Gentleness: a supernatural gift of God.

Steve Brown:
Gentleness: a supernatural gift of God. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
God’s grace changes everything. How we love, work, live, lead, marry, parent, evangelize, purchase, and worship. This is Key Life, with practical Bible teaching to get you home with radical freedom, infectious joy, and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re looking at Philippians as a part of our study in Philippians, and we’re looking at the fourth chapter of Philippians: verses four through seven. It’s a description of a supernatural life that is close to Jesus. And it’s a reality in the life of every believer because to one degree or another, we have experienced everything that the apostle Paul is talking about when he writes the church at Philippi. And so, we’re listing some of the things that are supernatural in the life of a believer. And the question before the house is, what is it in your life that you can only explain by the supernatural? What is it in your life that others see that they can only explain by the supernatural? And yesterday we talked about joy, laughter. I wrote a book not too long ago called Laughter and Lament. And lament is a part of what it means to be a Christian. We live in a dark place, we go through hard times, and tears are appropriate. But in the middle of it, there is laughter. I said in that book, and it’s true, that I’ve never been to a Christian funeral where there wasn’t laughter, ever, not once. That’s supernatural and you can’t explain it, Philippians 4:4.

Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again, rejoice.

In the sixth chapter of II Kings, there’s an interesting story you may remember. The King is ticked at Elisha because Elisha keeps warning the King of Israel. So, Elisha is in Dothan, and the king sends his chariots to get Elisha and probably to punish him. Elisha’s servant gets scared. And Elisha says, be cool. That’s the literal Hebrew translation. Be cool.

The ones with us

Elisha says

are greater than the number with them.

And his servant says, are you crazy? It’s just you and me. And then Elisha says, praise. And he says.

Lord, show him. Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills filled with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

We don’t see that sometimes, but we should. Let me see your power and your majesty in the midst of this horrible situation. It’s there, and it is a cause of great joy and great release. Been there, I’ve done that, and you have too. Then secondly, I want you to note not only the supernatural joy. Please note if you will, the supernatural reaction, it’s Philippians 4:5a.

Let your gentleness be evident to everybody.

Usually, when I’m teaching a particular text, I do a word study to make sure that I have the meaning behind the English translation of the text that I’ll be teaching at the particular point. That was true for the word gentleness. I found an incredible variety of different translations for the word gentleness. You’ll find that the word is translated sometimes as forbearance, or maybe patience, or a patient mind, or softness, etc. The reason there’s so many different translations of the word is because the Greek word is an extremely difficult word for which one can find an English equivalent. Barclay says.

That it’s a word that means literally justice that goes beyond justice.

He uses the illustration of a teacher who had two students. And the teacher gives one student a 90 on the exam, and he gives another student a 50 on the exam. However, when the teacher looks into it, he finds that the students who got the 50 had some significant problems, a death in the family, he works three jobs, etc. Then the teacher takes into account the problems with which the student is dealing, and he raises his grade to a 90. Hmm, that’s interesting. You’re supposed to do that with your enemy. Me too. You find that hard? I find it really hard. I have enemies that don’t like me. And I give them a 50 when I ought to be giving them a 90 if something supernatural is going on in my life. Do you have people that drive you nuts? Do you have people who sin big and you think, how could they after all that Jesus has done for them? Let me tell you something. When a Christian sins, there’s some things you don’t know. You don’t know how hard he or she tried not to sin. You don’t know how often he or she prayed not to sin. You don’t know how much was arrayed against him or her when they did sin. You have never been there. And so gentleness, in the Greek sense of gentleness, the justice behind the justice is an appropriate reaction to sin, to harshness, to failure, to stupidity. The justice behind the justice, and listen to me, that’s a supernatural gift. That’s not the normal way one reacts to enemies. That’s not the normal way the church should discipline sinners. That’s not the normal way that we ought to reward dumbness. And yet, there is a supernatural thing that God gives his people if they want it, and that is the justice behind the justice. I have a friend who saw a poster he told me about the other day. It read.

Please accept me as I am, that I may learn what I am to become.

That’s what Christians are supposed to do for each other.

We’re porcupines

as Chuck Swindoll has said

trying to hug each other in a storm.

And we do some really dumb things, and we fail, and we sin, and that’s universal. That’s you, and the apostle Paul, and Peter, and it’s me. And we need brothers and sisters who will in a supernatural way react with the justice behind the justice. Don’t forget the question I was telling you, the one with which we’re dealing. What in your life is present that can only be explained by the supernatural? And what in your life is supernatural in a way that others will look and see Jesus? And one of the places is there. They always say about church discipline, and by the way, I believe in church discipline. Calvin said it was one of the marks of the true church, and it is. But it must be done right. It must be done in a way that is godly. But the thing that people expect in the church is judgment and criticism and holding people accountable and saying this was wrong and you must repent and change and all of those things have some truth to it. But the most surprising thing that ought to be present in every church is the recognition that there is justice behind the justice. And the cutting of supernatural slack in a way that allows Christians to love one another. Next time you’re in church, look out. Think of the worst sinner there, and then say. Jesus, I want you to allow me to see them through your eyes, understanding and compassion and love and forgiveness. It’s gentleness. It’s cutting slack. It is the justice behind the justice. And as I said, it’s a gift that God will give to Christians. And isn’t explainable, except by the supernatural. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Steve. And with that, we put a bow on this week’s teaching from the Book of Philippians. We shall resume our exploration next week, of course. But first, tomorrow, it’s Friday Q&A. Tomorrow, Steve and Pete will answer a question about angels. Do they really have wings and harps? Tune in for their answers from the Bible. Well, here on Key Life, we recently had a week of teaching from Matt Heard. I love Matt’s insights and how he just incorporates illustrations from literature and pop culture. So, I am hereby creating the term, Heard Nerd. Print the t-shirts, baby. So, if you’re a fellow Heard Nerd, then you should know about Matt’s book. It’s called life with a Capital L. If you ever feel limited or stuck. Well, guess what? That’s not how it’s supposed to be. God intends the humanity in each of us to be deeply experienced, lavishly enjoyed, and exuberantly celebrated. And for a minimum donation of $15 to Key Life, this book is our gift to you. Just call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail Steve@keylife.org to order that book. Or go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, the name of the book is life with a Capital L. And finally, would you prayerfully consider supporting Key Life financially? Giving is easy, just charge a gift on your credit card, or include a gift in your envelope. Or just pick up your phone, you know it’s right there, and text Key Life to 28950 then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.