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by GLENN PEASE
01/23/18
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Based on I Thess. 2:7

     History is the record of the battle of competing ideas and philosophies that clash with one another in their effort to gain the allegiance of men. The whole world is under the pressure of such competing ideologies. Is theism or atheism the truth? Is liberalism or conservatism the way to go in politics and theology? The whole question of force or freedom is ever with us all the way from international relations to our own family relations. The question is, which is best, which is right, which is most effective in a given situation? Is it ruthless self-assertion or gentle self-sacrifice? Which is most effective in dealing with a nation you have defeated, or in dealing with a criminal or a person with anti-social behavior?

        The natural tendency of man is to choose force, for any thing else is a sign of weakness. Peter was a good man, but he was persuaded that the sword was the best way to handle things in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus rebuked him and told him that those who lived by the sword will perish by the sword. Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, and he was zealous for God. He was throughly convinced that force was the best policy. He persecuted and arrested Christians. He was involved in the stoning of Stephen. Paul received authority to do this, and he asserted that authority. Might is right was the philosophy controlling him, but he met a
greater master on that road to Damascus, and he received a new heart and new instructions. He was now given the authority to go to the Gentiles with the good news that Jesus Christ died for them, and if they would believe they could be released from the chains of sin and darkness. We want to look at the way in which Paul carried out these new orders for his life.   In contrast to his old ways, we see him being God’s gentleman for the Gentiles.

       The first thing we notice in this statement is the contrast from what he was as a faithful Jew. Paul did not come to the Thessalonians with an army, and with a sword in hand. What has happened? Is Paul less zealous for Christ than he was when he was against Christ? Has he lost his zeal? No! He has gained a new and greater zeal and power, and it is the power of gentleness. He has discovered that you only win a person when you convince them, and not when you coerce them. Many have tried to force people into the kingdom of God, but it is folly, for it does not work. People only really become a part of the family of God by choosing to receive God’s gift in Christ. You cannot force people to love Jesus.

         Jesus had all power, and He sent disciples into all the world to teach and preach. Paul was under that same commission, but he was no longer to go with a sword of steel, but with the sword of speech. He was not to go with weapons to cut and blast, but with words to convince and bless. He was to go, not with soldiers to compel, but with the Spirit to convince. Paul was to enter the Gentile kingdom of darkness with the gentle weapon of light. Jesus, the captain of our salvation, holds us each responsible for the use of this weapon. He said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” The Gospel is to spread by the power of gentleness and not force.

        When the church has forgotten this, and began to use physical force to compel people to believe, it became corrupted by paganism. Force has always failed to advance the faith, but love has never failed. This is a principle in history that the philosopher Locke observed as applying to all of men’s efforts. He wrote, “Gentleness is far more successful in all its enterprises than violence; indeed, violence generally frustrates its own purpose, while gentleness scarcely ever fails.” We see this principle illustrated in so many ways Western and gangster films. The bad guys are often defeated by their own greed for power and possessions. They double cross and betray one another. Little do the producers of these films realize that they are promoting the principles of God.

        Paul and many others since have proven the same true: “Gentleness wins more hearts than sternness.” George H. Colvert said, “The gentleman is a Christian product.” The whole idea of persuading men and winning men by the gentle process of enlightenment and friendship is foreign to men outside of Christ. Force was everything in the ancient world, and still is in much of the world. The Auca Indians, for example, could not even conceive of such a thing before they came to know Christ. Force and the impulse to kill was their natural reaction to other people. Communism was devoid of gentleness. Forceful destruction of the enemy was the foundation of their philosophy. They learned that you can force people to do your will, but you can only win their love and loyalty when they are free to give it.

        Napoleon was amazed at the fact that Jesus never used force to build His kingdom, and yet He had millions who would die for Him. Alexander the Great, the Caesars and himself lost all they had built by force, but Jesus has a kingdom that never ends, and keeps on growing through the power of love and freedom. Does this mean that Paul never exerted his authority? Not so, for he often did, and even with this church when he commanded them to not let those eat who were lazy and would not work. Paul could get tough, and he was no weakling, but his basic attitude toward others was always gentleness and kindness.

        Henry Martyn the famous missionary said, “The power of gentleness is irresistible.” Force is powerless against it, for all the power of Rome could not halt the unarmed army of Christians marching as to war, with only the cross of Jesus going on before. If the Christians would have taken the sword, they would have been crushed, but instead they loved their enemies, were kind to them, and they defeated their foes with love.

        Paul stirred up a lot of trouble wherever he went, but he never hurt anyone. He never picked up stones or threw them back. He never used a weapon. When he made converts he did not treat them like a tyrant who had conquered them, but he was gentle and treated them like his own new born children. This was no easy task. These people were pagans, and they would be very ignorant of morality and Christian doctrine, and so it would take great patience. There would questions galore on superstitions, and there would be arguments about old beliefs that would lead to quarreling. We get something of the picture of what Paul went through by his counsel to Timothy in a similar situation.

        Paul wrote in II Tim. 2:23-25, “Have nothing to do with stupid, senseless controversies: you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, and apt teacher, forbearing, correcting his opponents with gentleness.” If a Christian wins an argument by being rude, he loses more than he gains, for though he wins the debate he loses his Christian testimony which is worth far more. Paul urges Titus to teach the Christians to be gentle in their relations with the world. In Titus 3:1-2 he writes, “Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for any honest work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all men.”

        Where did Paul get this idea of gentleness being so basic in human relations? He tells us in II Cor. 10:1 where he writes, “I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” Jesus was called a friend of sinners because He could relate to the worst of men and women and treat them kindly. The great contrast in Paul’s life from being a zealous Jew using force to an even more zealous Christian out to spread the Gospel by gentleness came about because Christ dwelt within. Paul accepted the truth of Christ that only the Holy Spirit silently working in the heart can ever win a soul to Christ. Soul-winning is not by might or power. We don’t win people by overwhelming them, but we win as Christ did by letting His love, kindness and compassion or through our lives in gentleness. Mrs. C. M. Sawyer wrote,

If a man thou wouldst redeem,
And lead a lost one back to God;
Wouldst thou a guardian angel seem
To one who long in guilt hath trod,
Go kindly to him-take his hand
With gentlest words within thine own,
And by his side a brother stand,
Till all the demons thou dethrone.

       This might seem superficial and sentimental, but when we are constrained as Paul was by the love of Christ, and seek to communicate the simple Gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection, we will discover it is the most potent force in life. I am more convinced every day that true power is in gentleness. Like the silent gentle rays of the sun are the most potent factors in natural life, so the gentle kindness of the Christian is the most potent factor in spreading the spiritual life.

         In almost every case of a skeptic or hardened person I have talked to there is some point in their life where the church failed them. Christians were indifferent or cold toward their need, and this set them against Christ. I have seen it in a woman who told me that if some Christians would have stuck with her when she discovered her baby girl was mentally deficient she might have kept her faith, but they didn’t. Several women have told me of attempts to seek Christian help when they had a deep need, but they were given a cold shoulder.

         All of the common virtues of kindness seem so weak and inadequate, but people are always hungry to be accepted, and so the gentle virtues have a greater impact than we realize. Every person needs to be respected, and that needs to come through clearly when we relate to them. If they do not feel this, they will not be open to the Gospel. Medical missions are based on the philosophy that a man you have helped cure or save from some disease will have an open heart to what you say. Because he has benefitted by your compassion and skill he will be open to what you believe.

       Paul faced a self-centered society, and though we may be on a higher level than those people of his day, we still live in a basically self-centered society. The theme is to assert yourself, and throw your weight around. The one time top play called Stop The World-I Want To Get Off is about a man who lived the self-centered life. In the end he wakes up to realize he has paid to high a cost and he sings, “What kind of fool am I who never fell in love? It seems that I am the only one that I have been thinking of.” As servants of Christ we must love these kinds of people just as He did. It is only when we love them in their sin that we can love them out of their sin.

       This must not be interpreted to mean that we approve of sin. Paul was forceful in his condemnation of the old life. Gentleness is not weakness. La Rochefoucauld said, “It is only people who possess
firmness who can possess true gentleness.” Paul was certain about God’s will, and so he could be truly gentle. It is only when we really believe in the power of Christ and the operation of the Holy Spirit that we can be gentle in our relationship with all men. It is lack of faith that drives people to harsh measures, and plans based on selfassertion. All coercion and pressure in winning men is based on selfwill and not faith.

        Emerson said, “We do not believe, or we forget, that the Holy Spirit came down, not in the shape of a vulture, but in the shape of a dove.” The dove is a symbol of gentleness, and the Holy Spirit works through gentleness in the world. He gains entrance into the sinner’s heart by the door of love, and not through the door of force. Shakespeare wrote in As You Like It, “Your gentleness shall force more than your force move us to gentleness.” Paul would agree an also say amen to that poet who wrote,

"Who misses or who wins the prize?
Go, lose or conquer as you can,
But if you fail, or if you rise,
Be each, pray God, a gentleman."

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