Preacher: Rev. Joel Beyer
Series: BELIEVE
Category: Gentleness
Keywords: adultry , empathy , facebook , gentleness , strength , truth in love
Detail:
Every once in a while, in speaking with people, the subject comes up about what it means that all people are inherently sinful, sinful from the time we are conceived, inheriting original sin from our parents from the time of Adam and Eve. And yes, that even includes cute little infants and toddlers. That is why we in the Lutheran Church baptize babies. We believe, teach and confess that according to God’s Word, baptism is a gift from God for all people. And so, being sinners, babies need what Baptism offers, the forgiveness of sins. Baptism connects all of us to what Jesus did for all humanity on the cross. Children are sinners and whenever someone says, "But they don’t know any better," I agree with them! You’re right! All they know is how to sin! We’ve got to teach them to be kind and good. And I have a ton of stories to back this up. For example, this week at my house, my son and I were out in our backyard playing baseball when he dropped his bat and picked up his shiny new water blaster and pointed it straight at me. And so I gave him a fair shot. I said, “You may dampen anything in the yard — the plants, the walls, your toys — but you may not squirt your dad in the center of the yard. For if you do, your eyes will be open and you will know what it truly means to get soaked." I don’t think I even need to tell you what happened next. He couldn’t resist. So I grabbed the hose, aimed it at my mischievous son, and…I remembered what Fruit of the Spirit I am preaching on this week: GENTLENESS. So I sprayed him, gently. At least I thought I was gentle.
The reason I bring this up is because as we dig into what God’s Word says about this Fruit of the Spirit, Gentleness, I want you to ask yourself, “How do I deal with sinners in my life?” Because the reality is that the people in your life — your children, your family at home or at a distance, your coworkers at work, your fellow drivers on the road, the people on your social media who post the most ignorant things, the pundits and politicians who dominate the news — they’re all sinners. They all have selfish motivations. They all make mistakes. They do or say things that hurt you or your family, or people that you love and care about, and when they do, you have a choice to make as to how you are going to deal with them. How you are going to confront them? With what manner you are going to speak to them or act towards them? Are you going to try to shame them or graciously spur them to change.
There’s really two ways of doing it. The first way is the natural way, the way of our flesh. We blow up. We storm out. If you think of children, they tend to get violent with each other. As we mature and realize we don’t want to go to jail, we raise our voices to make our point. A nationwide study by the Gallup organization recently looked at virtues in our society, and it resulted in the virtue of gentleness coming in dead last. The question that most tripped up those taking the survey was, “Are you known as someone who raises their voice?” All people, Christians and nonChristians alike struggled with this. It makes sense. We’re taught to compete, to argue, to WIN arguments and situations at all costs.
The second way of dealing with sinners is the way that God intended for humanity. God would have us deal gently with sinners as He was gentle with us. When Adam and Even sinned against God in the Garden of Eden by spraying God with their squirt bottle of pride and rebellion, God did not destroy them, as he could have, yes he gave them consequences, they couldn't go back into the garden, they would experience death in this world, but he also gave them a promise. He promised to be with them, and be their God. He promised to send a Savior who would crush Satan who had deceived them. Throughout the Old Testament, God was gentle (mostly) in dealing with the Israelites who constantly rebelled and sinned against Him.
When Jesus comes onto the scene as God in the flesh, He reveals God’s perfect will for humanity. In His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:5 He says, “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.” The ESV uses the word meek, but I have a problem with the word meek because meekness sounds like…weakness. But meekness and gentleness are not weakness. Meekness and Gentleness are not virtues that cause you to roll over and let people walk all over you. Gentleness is showing strength in a controlled way. Think of a horse. Think of the raw strength that is in a horse, but also how gentle broken or tamed horses are. My cousin Jeremiah Fry is a filmmaker living in New Orleans and he was recently on set at the Louisiana State Penitentiary filming a documentary. He was able to capture from a drone (which is just awesome), a man taming a wild horse. It was incredible to see so that strength being harnessed and controlled. To see an animal who is easily capable of harming a man, now gently carrying one on his back. Gentleness is strength under control. It’s showing strength in dealing with people yet doing so in calm, thoughtful, and considerate ways.
Jesus demonstrates this for us in the Gospel reading for today. There was this woman who was literally caught in the act of adultery and was brought before the religious leaders in the temple. According to the Old Testament civil law, anyone who is caught cheating on their spouse can and should be stoned for their sin. Keeping families intact was crucial to the welfare of the nation, and let’s just say, they took the commitment of marriage very seriously. Jesus happened to be at the temple that day, and the Pharisees were looking for a way to trap him. Jesus had been kind to sinners in His ministry thus far, eating with tax collectors and healing lepers. But how is Jesus going to react to this situation? Would He dare go against the law of Moses? Against God? But Jesus stood in the way of this woman and her accusers. He knew her fear, and he knew their prideful hearts. He took the civil law and allowed the gospel to give it perspective. After writing in the ground, Jesus said these well-known words, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” They knew it. They were convicted (or too coward to buck Jesus). But I believe Jesus cut to the core of their self-righteousness, revealed their hypocrisy and their selective judgmental attitudes. They walked away, leaving the woman alone. Jesus turned to the woman and said, “Is no one left to condemn you?” “No, one,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
Jesus showed incredible strength in dealing with this woman. It wasn’t strength in force or power or intimidation or judgment like the Pharisees, but it was strength in truth and mercy. In this account, Jesus revealed that God values mercy over punishment. He values relationship over revenge. He values gentleness, forgiveness and second chances over justice. The Gentle nature of God is what ultimately what drove Jesus to the cross. Though God had every right to punish sinners, to shame us for our rebellion, to accuse us and judge us and give us what we rightly deserve — separation from Him and His goodness and His love forever — instead He stood in our way. On the cross, Jesus stood between you and your accuser, between you and your sentence for your sin, and He pleaded guilty in your place. He took the stoning that the law demanded your sins, and to you and to me, He says “There is no one left to condemn you. Neither do I.” Because of Jesus you and I, sinners though we are, get to walk free! God deals with you gently, as a loving Father, and because of Jesus, and His perfect sacrifice for you, He always will.
Now that doesn’t mean that there aren’t times that we don’t face any consequences for our actions in this life. There are indeed times when we need to be called out for our sins for the sake of protecting ourselves and others (and that’s a good thing). There are times that we need to confront the sin in others as well. God calls us to do that as well. We always need to speak the truth of God’s Word’s holy law to the people in our lives because God’s law is actually good for us and good for the world. God’s law curbs us from doing harmful things. We can and we should, with prayer and great care, diligently studying God’s Word, judge right from wrong in the lives of others and our world. And yet the law of God, by itself, will only condemn and drive us to despair. It needs to be always accompanied with Gospel, as Christ did for this woman and for us on the cross. So how do we deal with sinners in a gentle way, like Christ has with us?
From the story of the woman caught in adultery, here’s what we learn from Jesus:
Jesus speaks the truth in love. Notice He didn’t shy away from naming her sin and condemning it. But the manner in which He did it was out of a place of protection, compassion, and love. When we’re confronting people and speaking truth whether in person or on Facebook, we do so from a place of compassion and love and genuine concern. If our attitude is one of frustration, anger and bitterness, it is better to check those emotions, and ask for forgiveness and strength before the confrontation.Jesus empathizes with sinners. Being God, Jesus understood completely the woman’s situation. He saw into her heart and he knew the events that had led to her being in the temple that day. He knew what she needed. Though we can’t do that, we can actually empathize with sinners because we are all sinners! We all deserve punishment. We all have issues that we’re dealing with. But we’ve all been forgiven. There is not one since worse than another. We stand equally before God deserving nothing, yet receiving unconditional grace through Christ. Being gentle with sinners is first empathizing with the sin that is deceiving their hearts and minds and empathizing with that struggle in effort to win our brother or sister. Jesus desires to change hearts not behaviors. Jesus was more concerned, not with stopping the woman’s behavior, but her walking out of that situation knowing that she was forgiven and free. In all of our dealings with sinners, our number one goal should be to get them to a place of repentance, of turning to Christ and his truth and forgiveness, even if there are consequences for their actions. Sometimes that means we need to set up boundaries or even separation. Behaviors can be damaging, and should be changed, but without a changed heart, it doesn't matter. Only the grace and forgiveness of Jesus changes hearts.
Whether you are someone who has a hard time being gentle, or you are someone who has been treated harshly in the past or present, the beautiful thing about our faith is that Jesus is gentle with you. He forgives your lack of gentleness when you confess your hardness of heart. He lifts you up when you’ve been beaten down by the world. In Matthew 11:28-29 he says — “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” In His Word and Sacraments, God delivers to us Himself, to convict us of sin, and draw us to Christ who died and rose for us.
I love my son, but I couldn't just stand there and let him spray me and get away with it. He would have gone after his sister next, and then his mother. So he got a little wet. And you know what, he didn’t like it. But I was gentle. I ran up and gave him a big wet hug. And we laughed. And then I sprayed him again. I could do that because he knows I love him. There are going to be tougher times than that, and its my prayer I react with gentleness, that he might know Christ’s love as I know it for me. That’s my prayer for you as well. As a struggling sinner, redeemed, baptized, and bought by God with a price, may you know the gentleness of Jesus, and may you react in gentleness to others as well. Amen.
