God is Gentle | Pastor Darren Palmer | Faith Church

And so in Matthew 21, which is the reason for

Palm Sunday, arrangements were made. Jesus found

a donkey. Verse 4, all this was done that it

might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet

Joel. Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your

king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a

donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. And we

know that then this happened. And as they came

in, they waved the palm branches and they threw

them down and they threw their cloaks as well

on the ground. And they were preparing a way

for this king that was coming. A few moments

later, and I think this is perhaps the picture

most people have of God. Jesus went into the

temple and he flipped over the tables and he...

he was reclaiming the temple as the house of

the Lord. And we remember the moments that Jesus

is tough and strong and him shaking his fist

in the face of the Pharisees saying, you whitewashed

tombs. How many of you remember all those moments

of Jesus? And surely he is the soon -and -coming

king. The second time he comes, he's not going

to be riding on a donkey. He's going to be riding

on a white stallion with fire in his eyes, the

judge of the whole world. That is true. That

is true. And we see his boldness. so many different

situations. This week we'll be looking at the

moments of the cross and Pontius Pilate, he looks

at Pontius Pilate with all the calm and all the

reserve and he says, you would have no authority

over me if it were not granted you from above.

And Jesus, can I just... side note that's not

in my notes. Jesus is not insecure. Jesus is

not insecure. If you have parts of your personality,

and this is oftentimes compartmentalized in our

lives, there's things that we are insecure about.

You know, you hang out with Jesus, and you're

going to get secure like he is. Amen? And that's

good. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. But here,

Jesus does not come in a grand fashion. He comes

lowly. In fact, some of your translations say

gentle. Gentle. The Greek word is translated

meek. Meek. And it's found, this exact word,

although derivatives of it are more often in

Scripture, the fruit of the Spirit, one of the

fruits of the Spirit is gentleness, right? But

this exact word, four times in the Scriptures,

Matthew 5 .5, blessed are the meek, the gentle,

for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 11

.29, take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am gentle. Gentle. 1 Peter 3, 3 and 4.

Speaking of women's attire, do not let your adornment

be merely outward, arranging of the hair, wearing

of the gold, or putting on fine apparel, but

let it be the hidden person of the heart with

the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and a quiet.

So those three times and then also this one.

Behold, your king comes gentle riding on a donkey.

Gentleness, a quality that Jesus embodies. And

I believe wants us to embody as well the spirit

of gentleness. Jesus got this. DNA of gentleness

from his father. Gentleness is a quality that

the father has. It was this quality that David

often wrote about. One of the, probably the most

famous psalm in all of the Bible. Shepherd. And

David understood the fierceness that a shepherd

had to have towards the enemies of the sheep.

But David understood the gentleness that the

shepherd had to give to the sheep. He was gentle

with them and he knew the Lord as somebody that

was my shepherd that was gentle with me. Gentleness.

The Lord is my shepherd. Psalm 1835 says, you

have given me the shield of your salvation. Your

right hand has held me up. Your gentleness has

made me great. David wrote that. Let's all just

say that together. Your gentleness has made me

great. I love that. That's a powerful, promise.

The gentle father. The gentle father. Can you

imagine with as much power as God has if he did

not also have gentleness? If he did not somehow

was able to contain all of that power and kind

of just hold it back, hold it back, hold it back

so that he could relate with you and me. Can

you imagine if every time we related with the

Father, if He unleashed all of His power upon

us? We would not be able to take it. There's

nobody that can stand in His presence except

that He's gentle. God is a gentle God. Isaiah

prophesies of the gentleness of God. He will

feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather

the lambs with his arm and carry them in his

bosom and gently lead those who are with young.

Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Some verses that

remind me of God's gentleness. 2 Peter 3 .9 The

Lord is not slack concerning his promise. as

some count slackness, but as long -suffering.

That's a quality that goes with gentleness. Patience.

Long -suffering. Not willing that any should

perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Ezekiel 33, 11 says this. Say to them, as I live,

says the Lord, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure.

in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked

turn from their wicked ways and live. Wow. Turn.

Turn from your evil ways. And so his gentleness

calls them to repentance. Jesus tells a parable

that speaks of the gentleness of the Father.

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them

goes astray, does he not leave the 99 and go

to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?

And if he should find it, assuredly I say to

you, he rejoices more over that sheep than the

99 that did not go astray. Even so, it is the

will of your Father who is in heaven that...

that not one of these little ones should perish.

Amen? Now when you have gone astray, aren't you

glad that the Father did not respond with harshness?

Think about your own life. Think about when you

went astray. The two of you in here that went

astray. You know who you are. No, we all have

a tendency to wander, don't we? Even as believers,

hopefully in lesser and lesser ways, the longer

we live for the Lord, hopefully we start learning

a thing or two, right? But we still have a tendency

to wander. Sometimes we don't like the path that

God has placed us on. And so how many of you

have tried to cut your own path? You've tried

to make things happen and force them down a certain

road and make them happen. It does not work.

And do you know what leads us back to repentance?

What the New Testament says? The New Testament

doesn't use the word gentle. The New Testament

uses the word kindness. It is your kindness,

Lord, that leads us to repentance. And because

Jesus is gentle with you, he leads you back from

your place of straying. Praise the Lord. Praise

the Lord. His gentleness. Glory to God. Glory

to God. The Father is in this room right now.

And He is gentle. And I want to speak just for

a moment to the fathers in the room. Fathers

in the room. It is important. That amidst all

of the other responsibilities that we have as

fathers, that we reflect our heavenly Father.

And that this quality of gentleness be something

that our children experience. Amen? Let me read

a couple verses to fathers. And you fathers,

do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring

them up. In the training and the admonition of

the Lord. Can you feel the gentleness, the gentle

heart of the Father in that instruction? Do not

provoke your children to wrath. Now, I have been

known to be provoking. I must confess. I must

confess. Are there any other provokers out there?

Yeah, we got some honesty going on now. Now,

the Bible doesn't say don't ever provoke them.

But you gotta know when to stop. Don't provoke

them to wrath. I believe in the fun of a family,

amen? But do not provoke them to wrath. Gentleness,

bring them up. In the training and the admonition

of the Lord. Here's another one. Fathers says

it twice. Paul said it to the Ephesians. That

first verse was Ephesians 6 .4. He says it again

to the church of Colossians 3 .21. Fathers, do

not provoke your children. Lest they become discouraged.

And so. we have to be careful even in correction.

Amen? Correction can lead to discouragement if

it's not coupled with gentleness and encouragement.

Amen? Reflect the heart of gentleness. Thank

you, Lord. Your fellowship with the Holy Spirit

will make you gentle. Your fellowship with the

Holy Spirit will make you gentle. It is true

that the company that you keep is who you become

like. That's why we've got to be careful who

we're friends with, right? Friendship with the

world is enmity with God. But friendship with

God is life forevermore. And when you hang out,

when you fellowship, when you regularly are connecting

with the Holy Spirit, gentleness becomes a quality

that grows in you. I already said that it was

a fruit of the Spirit. Let me read it to you.

Galatians 5 .22. The fruit of the Spirit is love,

joy, peace, long -suffering, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, self -control. Self

-control. Against such things, there is no law.

I believe that we as Christians should become

more and more gentle the longer that we walk

with Jesus. Praise God. Praise God. Gentleness

affects how we treat each other. Have you ever

seen somebody that you know is going the wrong

direction? Yeah. People in your life that have

gone the wrong direction. Paul says that when

we see people go the wrong direction, we have

a responsibility to go after them. Well, I don't

want to do that, Pastor. I'm a peacemaker. It

will cause ruffles. No, it will express your

love for them and your desire to see them in

heaven and your desire to not see the enemy snatch

away what God has placed in their life. You have

a responsibility to go after them. Listen to

what Paul told the Galatian church. Brethren,

If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who

are spiritual, now this is not equivalent with

arrogance, please. We are not saying we are better

than you. You who are spiritual, restore such

a one in a spirit of gentleness. Considering

yourself, lest you also be tempted. That means

we can't come with pride. We can't come with

arrogance. In fact, you need to spend a moment

in prayer and you need to say, God, before I

go and talk to my brother and sister, clothe

me with gentleness. Make me more like you, Jesus.

Make me more like you. Gentleness is a part of

who we are. What does the gentleness of Christ

mean? The gentleness of Christ means that when

you are at your lowest, Jesus will not crush

you. Hallelujah. That's good news, friends. When

you are at your lowest, Jesus will not crush

you. Matthew 12, 9 says this, Jesus will not

quarrel nor cry out. nor will anyone hear his

voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will

not break, and a smoking flax he will not quench.

So if you are a bruised reed or a smoking flax,

if that's the season of life that you are in

right now, that's the way that you feel about

your life. I'm just bruised and a smoldering

wick that's not even producing any flame. It's

just smoldering and smoking and making the room

smell foul. That's the way my life feels right

now. Jesus will not break you. And Jesus will

not snuff you out. But rather, He comes alongside

of you until you receive justice, until He brings

you forth to victory in Jesus' name. He wants

you on the team, even though you're hurting.

The gentleness of God means that when you are

at your lowest, Jesus will not crush you. You

can turn to him. Secondly, it means the gentleness

of God means that God is knowable. Isaiah 55

says of the Lord, for my thoughts are not your

thoughts. Nor are your ways my ways, says the

Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the

earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and

my thoughts than your thoughts. Imagine if God

stayed in that place, never revealed anything

to us. What if he never gave us any revelation

about who he is? What if he never taught us?

But because he's gentle, God is knowable. He

makes it so that you and I can have relationship

with him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God.

He lowers himself. And Jesus did this. He humbled

himself. Philippians says he did not consider

equality with God something to be grasped, but

he humbled himself, made himself nothing, became

obedient even unto death. Why? So that you and

I could know him. Amen? God's gentleness means

that he is knowable. And finally this morning,

some of you cannot believe that I'm already to

my last point. And it's not even 1130. Oh, hallelujah.

Finally, the gentleness of God makes him approachable.

Makes him approachable. Hallelujah. Hebrews says

that we should come before him with boldness.

Come into his throne room with boldness that

we might find help in our time of need. And it

is Jesus. You remember when the disciples were

telling the kids, get out of here, don't bother

the teacher. And what did the gentleness of Christ

compel him to do? Let the children come to me.

Let them come to me. I know I'm a rabbi. I know

this isn't normal for rabbis. But I want the

kids to come around me. I want to touch them.

I want to bless them. And the kids had no qualms

at all about approaching the King of Kings and

the Lord of Lords because He was approachable

by everybody. You think that Jesus is only knowable

and only approachable by the religious people.

It is not the truth. He's humble. And he invites

you to come. And I read, I quoted a part from

Matthew 11, but I want to read verse 29. I want

to read it to us. I'll back up. Come to me, verse

28. All who labor. and are heavy laden, and I

will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and

learn from me. There he is, knowable, knowable.

Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls. For my

yoke is easy and my burden is light. I want to

just take a moment this morning and I want to

thank God for his gentleness. I want to thank

God for his humility. I want to thank God for

his patience. I want to thank God for this soft

side that He has that makes it so that we can

come to Him. When I was an assistant pastor in

Galesburg, I got it over and over and over again

from our young people. They were afraid of me.

I kind of liked it. I don't know. But I realized,

They don't want to come and talk to me because

they're afraid of me. And I don't know if it

was the position or what or the way I carried

myself then. I don't know what it was, but they

had this fear. I wasn't very approachable. I

don't want to be like that. And I remember not

just one of them, many of them were like, I don't

want to be like that. I hope that you don't want

to be like that. Jesus is not like that. Now

there are times when he reveals himself that

all we can do is tremble and fall down at his

feet as though dead. In all of his glory and

splendor. But there are so many times when he

just says, come to me. I am meek. And I am lowly.

And you can come. You can come. So Jesus, we

thank you this morning, even as we just pause

here for a moment here in your presence. And

we just recognize your humility. We recognize

your compassion. We recognize your gentleness.

And we ask God that you would do two things this

morning. One, that you would help us to experience

your gentleness. You would help us to experience

who you are, more of who you are. You are gentle.

God, when we are like a bruised reed, When we

don't understand what is happening in our lives

and we respond in a way that draws back, I thank

You that You do not draw away from us. You do

not cut us off. You do not say, I don't want

You. Lord, even when we fail, even when we sin,

You don't turn away. We become like that one

wandering sheep that has gone astray. But Lord,

it is your gentleness that comes after us. It

is your kindness that leads us to conviction

and repentance. And we turn back. And so Lord,

I pray that your gentleness will just hover over.

Lord, it's the secret place that Pastor Cammie

has been talking about through this whole season.

It is the secret place we find refuge under your

wing. It is a place of gentleness. God, I pray

that somebody, even just one in here, will experience

the gentleness of Christ. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Would you come and play He Loves How He Loves?

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We thank you

for your gentleness. We thank you for your touch

in this room right now. We look to you, Jesus.

God, the second thing I want to pray is that

you would just keep working on me. Keep working

on us. God, I just, in preparing this message

and in preaching this message, see so many rough

edges in me. And I want to clothe myself in gentleness,

and I want to clothe myself in humility. God,

I want to be like you. I want to be like you

to the people around me, to my family. I want

to be like you. Jesus, transform my life. Transform

my life. Make me like Jesus. God, I just freely

confess my need. I just sense repentance just

happening around the room right now. Sometimes

we don't like what we see when we look at our

own personalities and our own lives. God, we

just come before you and we lay our lives on

the altar. We say, God, have your way. Make me

like Jesus. Make me like Jesus.