“Let your gentleness be known to all. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5).

This is an odd verse.

If we didn’t know this came from the Bible, we would find it odd that being gentle is a virtue. It doesn’t sit well with the American ideal of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, life is tough get over it attitude. I am not sure if this gentleness thing would work so well in the corporate world either. I can’t remember reading a single book about leadership in the secular setting that advocates gentleness.

Yet, here it is.

The Greek word for gentleness can be translated as gentleness and forbearance. The idea is that the trait God is asking that his disciples display is gentleness in the form of forbearance. It means that we value the needs and the intricacies of the other. It means that we put the good of others, not over our own needs, but that it is as important. It means we recognize that we are not the same. We value different things. And, that’s okay. We will forbear.

Wow. Can you imagine a church living this out? Little Church and Lakewoodgrace, we are not perfect but I love seeing this trait in you. We don’t always have to get our way. What is good for the whole is good for us.

The motivation for gentleness and forbearance is that the “Lord is near.”

This can mean a couple of things.

1. It can mean that the second return of Christ as Master and Judge is near. That is a perfectly good understanding of this phrase.
2. It can also mean that wherever Christ-followers are, the Lord is in that space because the Lord is in the disciple. Therefore, wherever the disciple is, the ways of the Lord ought to be present.

Both are good understandings of the phrase, “the Lord is near.”

We are to demonstrate in our lives the quality of gentleness and forbearance because the Lord is near. As you might have guessed, this isn’t a gentle suggestion. This is a command. It’s an imperative.

How can you put into practice gentleness and forbearance today?

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

Oh, wow!

“And the devil will flee from you…”

I want that! That sounds so good. I really want that.

How can we do that?

The writer of James tells us, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

The million dollar question is, “How can I resist the devil?” Because, you see, I don’t seem to do a very good job at resisting the devil. In fact, my track record in resisting the devil is not very promising.

The devil has a tool up his sleeve that seems to get me more times than I would like to admit. It’s called temptation. And the thing about temptation is that I have yet to meet a temptation I don’t like. In fact, most temptations, I really, really like.

If temptations tasted like cauliflower, looked like a pile of dung, felt like stepping on a lego with bare feet I would never be tempted by temptations.

But that’s not how temptations work for me. My temptations never taste like cauliflower, look like a pile of dung, or feel terrible. At least, for the moment, my temptations taste awesome, look awesome, and feel awesome.

That’s the problem with temptations. How am I supposed to resist that?

Aha! Here’s the key. It’s not about me trying to resist the temptations of the devil so much as it is about submitting myself to God. The power isn’t in me. The power is in God. The key to resisting the temptations of the devil is not me trying harder, but me submitting to God.

When we submit to God, we resist the devil. And when the devil comes across people submitted to God, the devil flees.

“Then the kings of the earth and the great men and commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free men hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'” (Revelation 6:15-17).

The final judgment.

God’s wrath.

Hell.

There are few things to our world, and to the modern church, that is more offensive than the ideas represented above. Our world hates hearing about God’s judgment, wrath, and hell. Today’s modern church is often afraid to mention these words.

But how the world feels about these words has nothing to do with reality. This is going to happen. On that day, the kings of the earth, the great men and commanders, the rich and the strong, and every free and slave men and women will be asking, “Why did you not tell us about this terrible day? Why did you not tell us the truth about Jesus Christ?”

If God’s wrath and judgment against sin is not real, then the whole Jesus being Savior and Lord is absolutely pointless.

It is God’s desire to be patient, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

All the people who think they are mighty, powerful, important. All the people who believe they don’t need God nor the forgiveness that God offers in Jesus Christ. Every single human being who has ever taken a breath on planet earth will have to face the wrath of God. And should we not be covered by Christ’s righteousness, we too will wish that the mountains and the rocks would fall on us to hide us from the wrath of the presence of him who sits on the throne.

Disciples, Jesus is good news because of what he purchases for us through his blood and sacrifice.