Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, guys. Hey.
Couple things. First, gentleness to Jesus.
This probably is probably one of the most challenging things that I've maybe studied in quite some time.
One is, when we think of Jesus, we think primarily of his compassion, right? We think of just how he demonstrated himself with. With other people, right? So in his healings, with raising people from the dead, him dying on the cross. For us, this is probably the quality that we think of both Christians and non Christians, right? So even the folks that we are probably around often who do not believe in Jesus don't believe that he's the Son of God. What they would say is, well, yeah, maybe he did exist and he was a very kind man.
So even the people who might believe in his existence, but not actually believe who he actually says he was, might admit, okay, he has some sort of gentleness about him.
So I was going about this. It's kind of daunting. One, because it's quite the honor to be able to speak about the gentleness of Jesus.
But two, because how do you possibly encapsulate all that Jesus is in this manner, so quite the task. Hopefully, it's helpful here. In a moment, I'm going to kind of guide us through answering a few questions that hopefully will equip us maybe when we're thinking about the gentleness of Jesus and then how we're operating with others.
First, there were a couple books that I consulted. One, our Bible, of course. Two, Gentle and Lowly. All right. Gentle and Lowly. We have like a hundred copies of this.
The other day, I was actually. This is about a month ago, I actually went back with Taylor to the back room.
It's kind of a mess back there, to be honest with you. There's like all kinds of things, but in a big kind of cabinet. There's like 100 copies of Gentle and Lowly. So just encourage you. It's okay if you don't have a copy. One, get one. There's a friend that you probably have that doesn't have a copy of this. This would be something really, really, really special to give them as well, too.
So Gentle and Lowly. Also, there's another book which maybe you've heard of this or not. It's called how to Know a Person by David Brooks. David Brooks is basically. He was a columnist for the New York Times. And what he sought to do is. Because he typically would hang back in a crowd. What he sought to do is observe people's interactions with one another and then try to answer the question, how do I come and Know a person.
So first I have a quote by him.
Brooke says, I wanted to learn this skill. So the skill of knowing a person. I wanted to learn this skill for what I think of as spiritual reasons. Seeing someone well is a powerfully creative act. No one can fully appreciate their own beauty and strengths unless those things are mirrored back to them in the mind of another.
There is something in being seen that brings forth growth. If you beam the light of your attention on me, I blossom. If you see great potential in me, I will probably come to see great potential in myself.
If you can understand my frailties and sympathize with me when life treats me harshly, then I'm more likely to have the strength to weather the storms of life.
The roots of resilience, the psychologist Diana Fosha writes, are to be found in the sense of being understood by and existing in the mind and heart of a loving, attuned and self possessed other. And how you see me, I will learn to see myself.
So I think what Brooks and what the psychologist is observing is a little bit about the desire for. A little bit of desire for us and our desire to be known and then for others to be known by us.
Right? So one we desire to be understood by another person.
That's just like super warm. When someone asks you, hey, what, what do you do for work? What does an average Tuesday look like for you?
It's like a special heartwarming thing that you could ask a person and they feel immediately, oh, they just feel inclined to come and talk to you for a while.
So I think that this gets to the heart when we're talking about the gentleness of Jesus, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. This has something to do for us in the sense of how Jesus is coming to know us and then obviously to leverage us to come and know other people.
So my first question though is what is the chief end of man?
What is the chief end of man?
I know at the Allen's house, for instance, this is talked about frequently, at least when I've been around you guys. This is like something. You guys talked to Zayden Bowen quite frequently.
I think even when we did a.
What was that?
We did the shorter catechism study for a short time period where we actually walked through these things. And the very, very first question was, what is the chief end of man? Can someone answer it for me? What is the chief end of man?
[00:05:47] Speaker B: To know God and make him.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Yeah, to know God and make him known. To glorify God and enjoy him forever. That is the chief end of man, to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
So at the core of every human, there is an innate desire to be known. In our sin, we fill our desire for knownness by numbing ourselves with things that cannot know us.
Jeremiah puts it this way. For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
So hopefully, by the end of the class, I want us to be able to answer three specific questions. One, what does this mean for I am gentle and lowly in heart? What does it mean that Jesus is gentle and lowly in heart?
Two, what do we need? Why do we need Jesus to be gentle and lowly to us?
So he's gentle and lowly in heart. Why do we need him to be gentle and lowly?
Two, how can we be gentle and lowly with others?
All right, those are the three questions.
What does it mean that Jesus is gentle and lowly? Why do we need Jesus to be gentle and lowly to us? And three, how can we be gentle and lowly with others?
Before I begin, I'm going to pray.
If you bow your heads with me, Father God, would you, God, by your spirit, help us. Help us understand this.
God, would you help us understand what it means that Jesus is gentle and lowly for us?
That at his core he is gentle. At his core he is compassionate. At his core he's empathetic. God, would you teach us how to do this with others, God, so that your gospel may advance? We love you. Would you, God, give me a gentleness in teaching this morning?
God, would we not leave without God understanding how Jesus is gentle for us? We love you, you, name, I pray. Amen.
First, how would you describe someone who is gentle?
Not a rhetorical question. How would you describe how someone is gentle? Gentleness is kind of. It's kind of. It's kind of mysterious in a way. It's not really, like, a word we use fairly often. So how would you describe someone who is gentle?
[00:08:19] Speaker B: Soft in manner.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: Soft in manner. Okay. Patient. Patient.
[00:08:26] Speaker C: Tender.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: Tender.
[00:08:29] Speaker D: Understanding.
[00:08:35] Speaker A: Understanding.
So someone who considers someone else's, like, frailties. Like, if someone's going through something difficult, like, someone who's able to, like, look at that person and understand as a person who might be gentle. Yeah.
[00:08:54] Speaker E: Slow to anger.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: Slow to anger.
So someone who doesn't have a short fuse maybe is someone who's gentle. Yeah.
[00:09:06] Speaker E: I think of how I'm. I think of How I am when I'm with someone I perceive as gentle and like, I'm defenseless.
[00:09:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:18] Speaker E: Like, I don't feel any need to put any. Anything up.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:24] Speaker E: Causes like. Cause like peace.
[00:09:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
Who.
Who are some people like that for you, like, in your life?
[00:09:39] Speaker B: A friend named Polly Mimes.
[00:09:45] Speaker E: My father in law.
[00:09:46] Speaker A: Your father in law? Yeah.
My grandpa. Your grandfather. Yeah.
[00:09:56] Speaker E: Whitney and Chris. They're really gentle.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Whitney and Chris are very gentle people. Yeah.
Your brother. Yeah. Everett. Yeah.
Laney and Braden. Yeah.
That's sweet.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Some friends that come to mind for me, a dear friend. I haven't talked to him in a long time.
When I was studying this, the first person that came to mind was a guy named Morgan.
Morgan.
Gosh, it's gonna. It's gonna take me a second to not have to cry about this.
Matt said, like, the other family member gathering, that he's a weeping man. I think I've got him beat, probably.
And Morgan, such a sweet man. He.
When I first was moving from Fort Worth is where I. Or Midlothian is where I grew up, and then moved to San Angelo, you know, four hours away. I didn't know anybody. And so my family and I went to do a tour.
Did a tour, you know, of the campus. Like, check it out. I was already gonna go. Like, this is the place. This is just kind of a formality at this point. And Morgan met me at a hibachi restaurant in town. You know, so you had a hibachi restaurant. You get like eight people in a town, you know, just had a. One big grill, and you're kind of forced to talk to people. And so Morgan and his friend Josh made it a point to come introduce themselves to me in an effort to share Jesus with me.
So Morgan's verse, which I think of Christian Delaney, is a person I think of Brad is a person. I think of my friend Cade. Dan is a person I think of Rachel, of course. Gosh, this could take me a second here.
Jenny, the person I think of, and Luke. People I think of.
The central character that I find with these people is that they just simply care about others.
Right. Like, they have a disposition about themselves that is just for others.
My dad used to say that he would just take the shirt off his back for another person. Like, this is the. These are the kind of people who would do that. Like, I just believe that these people, that they would do anything, anything for other people.
So they are others oriented is the point.
I also feel like. Especially with the themes, like, I feel like with Chris and Whitney, the reason why people might say that Chris and Whitney are gentle is because you just kind of want to be around them.
Like, something about people's gentleness pulls you towards them. It just makes you feel, like, seen and, like, known and that you just want to hang around for a while. It's probably the reason why everybody wants to go to the Holcomb's house, because they're just warm people.
So this is what I've realized is the most important concept that we can know about Jesus. When Jesus says that he's gentle and lowly, what does he mean? So if you have your Bible, we're going to be primarily Matthew 11.
This is verses 28 through 30 here. In a little bit, I'm going to give us a few different scriptures for us to kind of open up to and read aloud. But they'll be towards the later, later half of the teaching here.
Will one of y'all read it for me? Matthew 11, 28, 30.
So probably the most influential three verses for our church, Right. Like, it's on our website. It literally says, come and rest on our website. I think that's what it says. Come and rest.
So first, in the Greek, gentle can be translated to meek. All right? I know my handwriting's small. Don't give me too hard of a time, all right? It's going to continue to be small. I don't think I can write much larger than this. Okay. At least where it's legible, where you can actually read it.
So gentle Greek word for this is a word named. It's called prowse.
Can be also translated to make what it means, though.
It means to not be overly impressed.
Telling you my handwriting is bad. Y'all just bear with me here. But it also can mean strength under control, right? So Jesus says, hopefully fairly familiar with this. Jesus says that the meek or gentle person is blessed and they shall inherit the earth.
This quality is also what drives Peter's teaching about modesty. Right? So in 1st Peter 3, 4, it says, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart. Notice the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
So the person who is gentle has the characteristics of a person who doesn't require standing out to feel secure, Right? So they're able to go to other people without a need for approval and to actually know them, to be curious about them, to be interested about them.
They have no need for applause. They have an inner strength that, that God finds beautiful. So you think of gentle, think of this.
So this is, well, something our Lord Jesus said. Of course. So this is Matthew 21:5 says, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast, a burden. So Jesus isn't self loathing, but as the kind of shepherd who gets in the grass with his sheep. He is both king and shepherd.
All right, so this is gentle. Lowly.
Lowly or the Greek word which is.
Which means to be humble or unpretentious.
Alright, to be humble or unpretentious.
So this quality is what drives what. I think Brad has noted a lot, which is curious questions. I don't know how many times I've come to Brad and I've said, man, I just want to learn how to. How do I ask curious questions? Can you give me a book? Is there a book that just says curious questions? And I can just read the Tim chapters to understand how to ask questions that are curious about other people.
I don't know if any of you guys have had that similar conversation. Imagine that you have.
What I've understood is that one, there's not a book that says that.
Two, that it's the ability, the ability to ask curious questions is to first take our eyes off of ourselves and then on to the wonders of other people.
So when we take our eyes off our own selves, our insecurity or how we're being perceived with the people we're talking to, the curious questions will just come, right? So if we're actually interested in the other person in front of us, we will just want to get to know them.
But it takes a person who is actually interested, a person who is lowly.
So when you think of lowly, think of this. This is Philippians 2, 5, 8, says, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself or he lowered himself.
He lowered himself, humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
And then lastly is cardia, which is heart.
Cardia. Oh, I'm at the right cardia instead of heart here.
All right, heart.
All right, so when we think of heart, right, so in our Bibles. Right, so there's different words for heart specifically we're going to talk about the cardia which is the center of us and the thing that drives all of our emotions, all of our thoughts and actions. All right, so what drives emotions?
Thoughts.
Oh my goodness. This is all right. Speaking. I can do it. Writing. I don't know. Thoughts, actions.
All right. In Hebrew it means the same thing. So in the Old Testament, right? Old Testament is written in Hebrew and Aramaic in parts. In Hebrew is le ev, but it means the same thing. It's the place of which all of our intentions or inclinations come from.
So when you think of heart as it pertains to our thoughts, think of this Genesis 6:5. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And when you think of heart as it pertains to our emotions, think of this. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
When you think of heart as it pertains to our actions, think of shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength, with all your mind, your neighbor as yourself.
So when Jesus says gentle and lowly in heart, he is speaking to the very core at which drives all of his intentions, desires and thoughts. While our intentions are marred with selfish desires. His intentions are completely selfless, perfect and lovely.
His heart is full of strength under control.
And his heart is full of humility and unpretentiousness.
So he is fully others oriented.
So Dan Ortland puts it this way. The heart drives all that we do. It is who we are. And when Jesus tells us what animates him most deeply, what is most true of him, when he exposes the innermost recesses of his being, what we find there is gentle and lowly.
So what we have is Jesus is both king who rules justly over the earth, executes his power against wrongdoing, but also rides into his country on a donkey.
He's also a good shepherd who washes his disciples feet and looks into the eyes of those who are hurting. He is gentle and lowly. So think back. I asked James and a couple of guys at community group last week. Think back to a time when where you first chose to follow Jesus.
What was it about Jesus that made you want to follow him?
So back to a time when you first chose to follow Jesus. Right? When Jesus struck you and you said, yeah, I want to follow that guy.
What was it about Jesus for you that made you want to follow him?
Yeah, I was really like overwhelmed that.
[00:23:05] Speaker E: He knows me and he actually cares about me.
[00:23:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too.
[00:23:15] Speaker E: You're saying that. What was it that brought you to God?
[00:23:18] Speaker A: Yeah. What was it about Jesus that made you want to follow him?
[00:23:21] Speaker E: For me, I was similar to Tino in that I was afraid of God, the greatness of God and imperfections of myself.
And it wasn't a full understanding. And it was only later that I learned there was a relationship there that we had that was gentle and forgiving.
[00:23:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:43] Speaker E: Was a process for me.
[00:23:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
Sean, what was it for you?
[00:23:51] Speaker E: I think the two things that come to mind was that I realized that I thought was.
But then also the. I remember reading screw tape letters and realizing that Jesus the depths of me more than I did. I think Lewis helped me realize that. And then that revealed to me how in need I was, how wicked I was, it kind of lifted the self righteous pretension that I had. And so I think realizing that he was both true and that he knew who knew me in the depths of me more than I did.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:48] Speaker E: Yet still loved me.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:50] Speaker E: Just remember sitting at Starbucks, it just blew my mind.
[00:24:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah.
It's good.
All this happening.
Yeah. Anybody else?
[00:25:08] Speaker E: And I was reflecting because I was a part of that conversation, that group, and I was reflecting on it later and I was like, man, I think the purity of Jesus, the fact that like trying so many things and finding parts of it being enjoyable in sin, and then a whole lot of other things come with it.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:32] Speaker E: And just finding pure joy, pure love, pure everything. Christ was just one of those things that just kept bringing me deeper and closer. And even initially, I think was one of the things for me, I think, Mason, Jesus is king.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: Jesus is king for you.
[00:25:58] Speaker E: I think as a compliment to his gentleness, that's the kind of king he is. But I just remember being confronted in my life by a pastor who just like, you can't keep living the way you're living and claim to be a Christian. Like, you have to turn and follow Jesus as your king. And that just being a. A very pivotal turning point in my life.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
So. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
[00:26:29] Speaker B: I was just gonna say I remember feeling like Jesus was the only way I would be made clean or whole.
[00:26:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:38] Speaker D: Yeah. Well, we were talking. I don't remember exactly what I. The response I gave to you, but when you said it again, I was starting to really contemplate it. And then when Sean said that he was true, that's really what it was. I Would love to say off the bat that it would be because he was gentle all over at heart. But, yeah, I cried out to him in the midst of some really bad things and asked him to, you know, if he existed.
And he showed himself and I. No one guided me through church or nothing like that. He was true.
And because of that, now I'm able to understand his gentleness, loneliness at his heart because he answered my prayer that day and rescued me and.
Yeah, that's it.
[00:27:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Thanks, man.
I think this is a helpful exercise for us for a few different reasons. I know it's a helpful exercise for me just in the sense that I can kind of get very overwhelmed with all the different, like, really dense theological things that are really, really good to, like, really consider and think about and, like, meditate on, but I really don't meditate very, very long on that really simple truth. Like, what it was like for me when I first. When I first chose to follow Jesus. What was it about him that made me want to follow Him?
It's like there's a multitude of different reasons how Jesus brought us from the things that don't satisfy us. Right. So whether that is.
Gosh, the things, whatever that was for you, the thing that you were just riddled with, that just was not doing it for you, that made you want to go, man, I need something more.
So there's something about when, as Sean said earlier, something about the truth that when Jesus comes to know us or comes to know people, either through, like, the sharing of the gospel with them, there's something experientially about that moment that is just. It's just so attractive.
The fact that we can give that to other people is a huge gift.
Yes, sir.
[00:29:07] Speaker E: I think this just highlights a little exercise you just did is helpful for me. Frame this in terms of evangelism, like, hearing everybody share their different. Like, this is what struck me in that season.
[00:29:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:21] Speaker E: There's so much that the Lord was doing in all of our lives to lead us to that point of being able to come to the knowledge, the sacred knowledge of knowing.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:32] Speaker E: And they. And he used different things in our lives to draw us to him.
[00:29:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:36] Speaker E: But I bet if we were to go deeper, we would all have people that were in our lives to some degree that we were either talking to.
You know, Lewis was dead, but I.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: Was kind of talking to him. Yeah, sure.
[00:29:51] Speaker E: Helpful in bringing us to that place.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:54] Speaker E: I can think of people. Like actual people.
[00:29:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:57] Speaker E: You know what I mean?
[00:29:58] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
Totally.
[00:30:03] Speaker E: Like, the person I Can think of most or two people. They asked me good questions. That got me.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
[00:30:10] Speaker E: Right time and the right season. If it was two years earlier, I would have laughed them off.
[00:30:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:14] Speaker E: But in that time it was right.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:17] Speaker E: This is encouragement.
[00:30:18] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
Yeah. We'll.
We'll dive more into that a little bit later, just in how we, how we all to be gentle and lowly with other people as part of our evangelism.
But I think the commonality is that whether if we're eight and we accept Jesus and we follow him, or whether we're 50, the commonality is there's something about Jesus gentleness that's attractive. There's something about him that makes us want to go, okay, that even the atheist who's a skeptic of the existence of God, that they're struck by the suffering the, that they're experiencing, whatever's happening in the background, that they're struck with. Someone knows that, like, that it's attractive.
So it's Jesus gentleness is what soothes our mind and souls.
And the point here that I'm making is that Jesus gentleness woos us.
There's this book, feel free to read if you, if you like to. It's kind of like a. Like one of those, like, Christian living what you read in like, middle school and high school books. It's called Love does. Talks a little bit about this. It gives an analogy between this guy named Ryan and this girl that he's trying to woo to marry her, right? And he goes through all these different things to, like, goes through all these things to get her to, to like, notice Him. And like, he just wants to, like, he just loves her. He just wants her to know.
So the way that Jesus does this for us is through gentleness.
So he wants us through his gentleness to dive deep into the depths of who he is. Because if we draw closer to him, our ultimate desire of being known is satisfied. It's his beauty that draws us in. We are drawn to beautiful things, and there's nothing more beautiful than looking into Jesus eyes. So Dan Altman puts it this way. It is Christ's gentle heart that adorns him with beauty. Or put the other way, what most deeply attracts us to Christ is his gentle, tender, humble heart. He would go on to quote Jonathan Edwards in one of his famous sermons. He says, a sight of the beauty of Christ that bows the wills and draws the heart of men, a sight of the greatness of God and His attributes may overwhelm men, but God's great greatness is not our deepest need, but seeing his goodness. We are drawn to God by the beauty of the heart of Jesus.
So why do we need Jesus to be gentle and lowly? It's because it's what draws us close to him and him to us. Belonging and being near to Jesus is what satisfies our souls.
So we see this in a multitude of ways, right? Like in Jesus, like, three and a half years of ministry. Countless miracles. Right? Countless miracles, countless healings, countless times of him being compassionate. Here are some examples. And if it's helpful, or at least helpful for me, I'm going to give each some of you some of these to point out and read. So can someone read Matthew 9:35, 36?
Got it, Matt. Matthew 14:13 through 21.
Katie.
John 4, 13:14. This is actually going to be a little bit like a difficult one for you. It's like two different sections. Three different sections. John 4:13 and 14. Yes, to you. All right, so you are going to be John 4, John 4, 13, 14, and then 28 through 30, and then 39 through 42.
Okay. Yeah. So this is the story of the Samaritan woman, right? So in the story of the Samaritan woman, there is these, like, the little narrative kind of pieces that separate the story. We're just removing those for the sake of seeing the story in its entirety. All right, the next one is John 8, 7, 10.
All right. Thanks, brother.
John 11:32, 45.
Who's got that one for me?
Thank you.
Yes, sir. Matthew, yours is Matthew 14, 13 through 21, because Matt's got Matthew 9:35, 36. Cool.
Yep. John 11:32 through 45.
Yes.
Yeah, y'all can train. Yeah. Oh, no. Honestly, when I was playing this, I was like, oh, gosh. Like, whoever has this one, bless them.
All right, okay. Matthew 9:35, 36.
[00:35:28] Speaker E: And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
[00:35:46] Speaker A: Yeah. So he sees us in the harassment of our own ailments and the helplessness of our condition and has compassion on us.
All right. Matthew 14 through 13 through 21.
As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat for a remote area to be lodged.
[00:36:04] Speaker E: But the crowds heard where he was.
[00:36:06] Speaker A: Headed and followed and put him in the house. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had to passion on them and healed their sick. That evening the disciples came to him and said, this is a remote place and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away so they could go to the villages and buy food for themselves. But Jesus said, that isn't necessary. You feed them. But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish, they answered. Bring them here, he said. Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples who distributed to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted. And afterward the disciples picked up 12 baskets of leftovers. About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children.
So you notice two things in that story, right? So he not only had compassion on them, healed their sick, but the disciples came and said, hey, these people are hungry.
Like, send them away. Send them away to their homes. Go, let them eat. And Jesus goes, well, why don't you just give them food?
They're like, what food are we going to give them? We only have a few loaves here, right?
But he feeds them. So he draws them in, right? In his heart posture of healing their sick.
He feeds them, feeds them food.
So in this, right, he's drawing them in by his power and his unmistakable kindness, right? So his power and his kindness. His power is displayed in healing their sick. His kindness is displayed in them, in him providing them food when he really didn't have to.
All right, John 4. Good luck, Katie.
[00:37:54] Speaker B: Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
28, 30. So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? They went out of town and were coming to to him 39 through 40. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him and they asked him to stay with them, he stayed there two days.
[00:38:42] Speaker A: Right? So the thing to note here is that the woman leaves her water jar, right? So the reason why she went to the well anyway was. Was to get water. She leaves the jar, leaves the jar and runs home. A place where she likely was despised as well because of her many husbands to tell everyone about Jesus. And many of them believed too.
So she's found the water and was able to give the water that satisfies all right. So John 8, 7, 10 to.
[00:39:25] Speaker C: And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, let him who is without sin among you be the first to dance over her that once more he bent down and roll on the ground.
But when they heard it, they went with one, one by one, beginning with the or Jesus was wept along with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said, woman, where are you? No one condemned.
Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? He said, no.
[00:40:01] Speaker A: Will you read 11:2, brother?
[00:40:04] Speaker C: He said, no, Lord. And Jesus said.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: So Jesus sees the woman caught in her sin.
He doesn't condemn her like the others would have. He doesn't look upon her with lustful eyes that the other men would have probably looked at her with as well. He looks at her with gentleness, riddled with compassion and grace.
And then John, John 11:32, 45. That's right.
[00:40:34] Speaker C: Now, when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, lord, if you have been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, because could not he who opened the eyes of the white man also have kept this man from dying. Then Jesus, deeply moved, again came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, lord, by this time there will be an elder, for he is destroyed. Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed, you.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: Would see the glory of God?
[00:41:21] Speaker C: So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked over eyes and say, father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always heard me, but I said, I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, lazarus, come out. The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him and let him go. Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and seeing what he.
[00:41:52] Speaker A: Did, believed in him.
So there's many more examples than this. Of course, even at Jesus own crucifixion, he was pleading to the Father on our behalf. Jesus moves towards those who are in distress. He weeps with us in our suffering. But notice Mary and Martha's responses to Jesus.
So first Mary says, lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
And then Martha says later, and lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he's been dead for four days.
Both responses reek of helplessness and frustration. He raises Lazarus from the dead in spite of our doubting, and he does so through gentleness, compassion and empathy.
So when we come to Jesus, we are met with irresistible grace and kindness. We are approached by a friend and Savior who knows us fully. His gentleness meets us in our sin and he weeps with us. As we look to Jesus, we grow to look more like him, care more deeply about the things he cares about. We see the forgotten people in our lives. And by His Spirit we have a renewed sense of the Gospel that refreshes us daily to share with others.
So if Jesus gentleness is the primary way he draws us in, how can we be then gentle and lowly with others?
So Paul first says in Colossians 3:12 but put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, or gentleness and patience.
So we can't live like Jesus if we aren't first or foreign to be gentle like Him.
Second, gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit, right? So this is Galatians 5:22 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
So as we put on the gentleness of Jesus, the Spirit empowers us to see others as more important than ourselves.
So here are some ways we can serve others in gentleness.
One is in our disposition. Eventually I'm going to write these on the board. This is going to help us lead through some of our small group question time.
So first, in our disposition, so Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1:3, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.
So we're supposed to be gentle in our disposition, supposed to be people like Dan, gentle, fleeing sin and pursuing gentleness.
1 Timothy 6:11. But as for You, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness when others sin. Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
So when we defend our faith, we're supposed to be gentle first Peter 3:15 but if in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect.
When we have in avoiding gossip, which is Titus 3:2, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy towards all people when we receive teaching, which is James 1:21 therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with meekness or gentleness the implanted word which is able to save your souls.
And then lastly in Our teaching, James 3:13 who is wise and understanding among you by his conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.
So in all of our conduct we are to be gentle and lowly. We are to be others oriented, ready to care and deeply know others. To live like Jesus is to live gentle and lowly.
Brad, you've said this to me before and I can't remember if it's from a book or not, but we ought to put on the eyes of Jesus, right? So when Jesus eyes look at us, how does he see us like? What is the manner in which he sees us? Right? He sees us with gentleness.
So we ought to put on the eyes of Jesus the eyes of gentleness that do not look at others as less, but as infinitely valuable and worthy to be known.
So in conclusion, I want us to do a little bit of an exercise before our small group time as a means of practicing thinking about Jesus gentleness for us. So this may feel a little uncomfortable, but I'm going to ask you all to close your eyes.
Okay? Close your eyes.
What would it be like to go on a walk with Jesus?
What would it be like to take a walk with Jesus?
What do you think he'd say to you or you to Him?
How do you think you'd be feeling in that moment?
Maybe you took that walk with him right after an anger filled fight with your spouse or your kids.
Maybe you took that walk with him following a really difficult day at work.
How do you think he'd be looking at you?
Can you picture what his eyes look like what must his eyes look like when he had compassion on a crowd of 5,000 plus people?
Or towards his friends whose brother just died?
Or to the woman caught in sin?
When you're caught in sin, how do you think he looks at you?
Are his eyes angry towards you?
In your sorrow, how does Jesus look at you?
This comes from Luke 24:13 35. It says that very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that have happened.
While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.
But their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. And he said to them, what is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?
And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Clepas answered him, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?
And he said to them, what things?
And they said to him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who is a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him.
But we have hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all of this, it is now the third day since these things have happened.
Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.
Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it, just as the women had said.
But him they did not see. And he said to them, o foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in the Scriptures all the things concerning Himself.
So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, saying, stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to them. And then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. And he vanished from their sight. And they said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures, you can. You can open your eyes. Thanks.
I hope this exercise one makes you maybe prompts you to think about what Jesus eyes looks like for you. That when we're saying that Jesus is gentle, that he has strength that's under control, and that he's strong for you and that both he's lowly, he's humble, and that all of these things is what drives his heart for you and for me.
I'm going to pray. Thank you guys so much.
