Standing Firm: Gentle with All
Philippians 4:5
© Mike Riccardi
Introduction
You are all familiar with the story of the 16th-century German monk, Martin Luther. As he studied his Bible, he came to the conviction that the Pope is not the head of the church, but that Christ is; that salvation is not conferred upon sinners by the Roman magisterium as a reward for religious devotion, but rather, as the Apostle Paul said in Romans 3:28, “that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” As a result of these convictions, the entire known world of Christendom stood against him. And when he wouldn’t kowtow to the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church, they tried Luther for heresy before the “Holy” Roman Emperor himself.
In 1521, Luther’s opponents convened an imperial council in the German city of Worms, and demanded that he recant his teachings or suffer the fate of a heretic. Luther famously replied: “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason and not by Popes and councils who have so often contradicted themselves, my conscience is captive to the word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen!”
Perhaps a lesser-known account is that of the martyrdom of Polycarp. Polycarp was one of the church fathers who was a disciple of the Apostle John, and who had served for years as the pastor of the church at Smyrna. Under the Roman Empire’s persecution of Christians, Polycarp was a target for torture and death. History records that when the Roman soldiers had finally stormed his house to arrest him, he fed the soldiers dinner, and asked if he could spend an hour in prayer, which they allowed. Eventually, they took him to the arena, where he stood in the face of wild beasts that threatened to tear him to pieces.
The Roman proconsul reminded Polycarp of his advanced age—then in his mid-80s—and promised to release him if he would swear loyalty to Caesar and revile the name of Jesus Christ. And with the lions to his left, and the stake at which he would be burned to his right, he looked at the crowd who longed for his death and said, “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never once wronged me; how then shall I blaspheme my King, Who has saved me?”
Both Luther and Polycarp are excellent examples of steadfast Christians—believers in Jesus who, in the face of opposition and amidst threats to compromise—stood firm in faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we hear their stories, we admire their courage, and we’re inspired to follow their example as they followed Christ Himself. And while it may be that 2026 doesn’t threaten us with being burned at the stake or with being fed to wild beasts, our society is, in principle, no less hostile to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His Word.
The question that we, the church, have to ask ourselves is: Are we ready to stand? Are we committed to “suffering hardship” in this long line of godly men, “as good soldiers of Jesus Christ,” who, when the temptation comes to soften on a particular doctrine of Scripture, will look that tempter in the face and say, “Here I stand! I can do no other!”? Who, when the cultural and societal and even political powers of the day demand that you renounce and revile Christ and keep up with the spirit of the times, will stand your ground and say with Polycarp, “In all the years I’ve served Him He’s never done me wrong. How could I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”
And more than just persecution from the world around us: our own hearts are wicked, and fickle, and prone to wander. We feel the pull of temptation every day to be disloyal to Christ; to give in to sin and worldliness; to compromise the convictions that threaten our comforts; the temptation to make Jesus just a little bit less central in our thinking, and our affections; to slacken in our commitment for Him to be Lord of every aspect of our lives.
And for all that: we need to stand firm! The demand of the moment in 2026 is a steadfast church that stands firm in the midst of threats from a hostile world, attacks from an evil enemy, and temptations from our own sinful flesh.
And to be equipped for that kind of faithful steadfastness, we have turned to the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. In Philippians 4, verse 1, Paul charges the church: “Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.” And beginning in the first two weeks of December, I’ve been working through this exhortation to spiritual stability, and the following means that Paul lists for how the people of God are to go about attaining this true, biblical steadfastness.
And remembering the resolute conviction and intransigent determination of a Polycarp or a Martin Luther, you might expect these means of standing firm to be characterized by an unbending sharpness: a furrowed brow and clenched fists. But paradoxically, we’ve been learning that the church stands most firmly and most resolutely against the evil influences of the world and the temptations of sin and Satan when we are the most yielding and most accommodative of one another.
We’ve seen, from the way Paul deals with the disagreement of Euodia and Syntyche in verses 2 and 3, that spiritual steadfastness comes as a result of a diligent devotion to unity within the body of Christ. The strength of any army consists fundamentally in the unity of its soldiers. If the soldiers are all doing their own thing, advancing at their own pace, fighting in their own way, pursuing their own agenda—and maybe even begin fighting against each other—defeat is certain. But a well-trained army fights in unity—with one mind and with one purpose. And so if the people of God will “stand firm,” we must be diligently devoted to preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (cf. Eph 4:3).
And then we learned that we must also be devoted to an unyielding pursuit of joy in the Lord. And this only makes sense. James 4:1 asks, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?” What threatens unity? “Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?” Indeed, we desire and do not have, and so we bicker with one another. But Paul says the answer to that is not to eliminate all pleasures from our lives, but instead to feast the appetites of our souls on the supreme pleasure that is to be found in the Lord Himself.
The antidote to disunity is a relentless pursuit of joy in the Lord, because when we seek all our pleasure and all our joy in Him, we will be satisfied, and we will no longer feel the need to quarrel and bicker about things which, if we could have them, wouldn’t bring us as much pleasure as the Lord Himself does anyway. So if we would be marked by the kind of spiritual stability that Paul calls us to as the people of God, we must relentlessly pursue our joy in the Lord.
This morning, as we stand on the precipice of a new year, we come to the third in this quartet of Gospel virtues which comprise the means of biblical steadfastness—namely, that we must be marked by an eminent and demonstrable gentleness of spirit. And I draw that principle from our text this evening, Philippians chapter 4 verse 5: “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.”
And this flows directly from the previous. If we are committed to rejoicing in the Lord at all times, then we will be characterized by gentleness to all people. Other people will experience our own rejoicing in the Lord—not just as they observe us singing praise and worship songs—but when our joy in Christ has so satisfied our souls that it overflows into demonstrable gentleness to everyone we come in contact with.
And we’ll dig into this one verse together, hanging our thoughts on three supporting hooks. First, we’ll consider thecommand itself; second, the scope of this command; and third, the ground or incentive for the command.
I. The Command
First, let us consider the command itself—the nature of this gentle spirit which we are called to demonstrate. Again, Philippians 4 verse 5: “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.” That’s the NAS95. The 1977 translation has, “Let your forbearance,” or “your forbearing spirit be made known to all men.” The LSB opts for “your considerate spirit.” The ESV says, “your reasonableness.” And the CSB has, “your graciousness.”
Now, why can’t the translators agree? It’s because this Greek word, epieikes, is notoriously difficult to capture in a single English word. One commentator says that the word “has a richer meaning than any single English word can convey” (MacArthur, 276). Another says, “There is not a single word in the English language that fully expresses the meaning of the original” (Hendriksen, 193). In addition to the above translations, the commentators describe epieikesas: mildness, patience, charitableness, yieldedness, leniency, bigheartedness, generosity, and—maybe my favorite—sweet reasonableness.
All of these concepts are at play in this word. How can we put our finger on it, so that we can obey this command Paul gives us? Well, I’m going to briefly expound on five characteristics of epieikes—of this gentleness that is to dominate our demeanor as followers of Christ.
A. Reasonable Flexibility
First, there’s what I’ll call a reasonable flexibility. It’s interesting that in secular Greek, when this word was used of someone in authority, it referred to someone who exercised a discerning leniency. This was someone who, when faced with a legal issue, and when he perceived that the strict application of the letter of the law would lead to commonsense injustice, this person could discern a better course, and would, as one writer put it, “moderate the inflexible severity of wrath” (TLNT, 35). Now, this was a discerning leniency; it’s not that someone would just unrighteously set aside the law at his whim. But it was a reasonable flexibility.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones says this person had “the capacity to differentiate between what is really of vital importance and what is not, to stand like a rock by the things that are vital, [and] to be reasonable about the things that are not” (Life of Peace, 158). This is someone who was not so inflexible, unbending, and unyielding that they would insist on a person’s detriment for the sake of mere formalities.
Now, there is so much that could be said about this, but I’ll just ask: Can you see what great application this has for us in the church—what great need there is for us to be marked by a reasonable flexibility? There are people in the church who conduct themselves in relationships with others that simply cannot abide it if something isn’t done according to a particular policy or preferred method. They consistently insist on their own way, and make others’ lives difficult until they bend to their direction! This is the kind of person that other people are always accommodating and pacifying, lest there be some needless altercation. If that marks you, dear friends, you need to put that attitude away. “Let your gentleness be evident to all men.” Be mild, kind—and, as long as it doesn’t violate the Word of God—be yielding. Be reasonably persuadable, reasonably flexible.
B. Temperate Gentleness
Secondly, there is a temperate gentleness that pervades the disposition of one who is epieikes. You know these people. They’re the ones about whom you say, “He is just such a gentle man,” or, “She is just a tender, warm, welcoming woman.” There is an appropriate softness and tenderness to these people—seemingly never with a harsh word, almost grieving when they have to offer correction. It seems almost impossible to frustrate them. There’s a coolness, a calmness, to their spirit—and they seem to have a calming influence on those around them.
The gentle person is someone you would feel comfortable talking with about what troubles you—someone you would feel very free sharing your struggles, trials, and temptations with. You know they’re not going to be abrasive, and dismissive, and prickly. They’re not going to slap you on the shoulder and tell you to “Suck it up!” This is someone who can be tender, and warm, and nurturing.
Are you that person? Is there a welcoming and nurturing disposition about you? When your brothers and sisters think of you, do they think of you as someone who can shepherd them through their struggles? Or are you someone they think of and say, “There’s no way I’m going to speak to him about this! He’s got all of the gentleness and grace of a chainsaw!”
Now, as I say that, some of you are thinking, “Mike, put a lid on all that mushy-gushy talk, will you? I’m a man! I’m brusque and brash and gruff! All that touchy-feely warm-tender stuff you’re talking about is for women!” We hear complaints like that from what’s today called the “manosphere.” But let me remind you of the man’s man who wrotethis. He endured beatings and imprisonments, lashes and stonings. He went without food and water and clothing. He spent a night and a day in the ocean, clinging to a piece of his shipwrecked boat, fighting for his own survival. The Apostle Paul was a man’s man. And this man wrote in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, “But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.” Friend, are you marked by such a temperate and gentle disposition that your brothers and sisters feel as safe and as cared-for in coming to you with their problems as a nursing infant feels in the arms of her loving mother?
And more than Paul: your Lord Jesus was the manliest man to ever walk this earth. He went through hell on the cross, absorbed the unmixed fury of the wrath Almighty God exercised on His own innocent soul, voluntarily submitted to the grave, and three days later, on His own authority, took His own life up again (cf. John 10:18), and came out on the other side! And that man, your Savior, was gentle enough to take a little child in His arms; gentle enough to liken Himself to a shepherd who tenderly cares for His sheep; gentle enough to invite all those who were weak and heavy-laden under the burden of their sin to find rest in Him, “for,” He said, “I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matt 11:28–29).
C. Patient Forbearance
Third, the man or woman who manifests the gentleness that Paul calls us to in Philippians 4:5 is marked by patient forbearance. And an easy way to understand this nuance is to observe what it’s contrasted with. In Paul’s list of elderqualifications in 1 Timothy 3, he says in verse 3 that elders “must not…be pugnacious, but gentle,” epieikes. A pugnacious man loves a fight. The older translations rendered this Greek word “a striker”—one who strikes. A basher. Something gets in this guy’s way: his first instinct is to strike, to bash. And though the original does refer to physical striking, it just as fittingly applies to verbal bashing as well. The dictionary entries for this word include the word “bully” as a gloss alongside “pugnacious” (cf. BDAG).
In Titus 3:2, Paul directs not just elders, but every member of the church, “to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.” You see? The pugnacious person is ready to strike or bash whatever threatens his agenda. Here, the non-gentle person is eager to malign those who have done him wrong. Someone sins against him or mistreats him, and his first instinct is to speak evil of that person. “A gentle answer turns away wrath,” but this one is ready with a “harsh word [that] stirs up” the fire rather than puts it out (Prov 15:1).
But the gentle man or woman is not so easily offended. Their first instinct isn’t to bash—whether physically or verbally. They are marked by a humble, patient forbearance. Calvin said such a person is “not easily moved by injuries” (117). Another commentator said such a one is “able to submit to injustice, disgrace, and maltreatment without hatred or malice, trusting God in spite of it all” (Leivestad, 158). Lloyd-Jones said, “[These] people have a control and mastery over themselves so that though darts are thrown, they do not find a sensitive place. … so that when these darts come, you can somehow receive them, and not worry about them—longsuffering, able to bear and forbear, not easily offended” (Life of Peace, 158).
Is this you, friends? Have you so pursued and found your joy in the Lord, verse 4, that when the darts of sinful offense are thrown at you, they don’t find a sensitive place? Have you gotten a sensible and sober view of your own sinfulness, so that you confess with Paul, “I am the chief of sinners, and so I’m always getting better than I deserve—even when someone wrongs me.” Or are you pugnacious? Quick to take into account a wrong suffered?
You say, “You don’t understand, Mike! I’m not worried that they’re offending me; I’m worried that they’re offending God and His Word! That’s why I disregard God’s Word, and am harsh and brutish and cantankerous and needlessly offensive!” And yet Paul told Timothy that “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, and with”—what?—“gentleness correcting those who are in opposition” (2 Tim 2:24–25).
D. Humble Surrender
And that leads very naturally into the next characteristic, number four: humble surrender. And by that I mean that the gentle man humbly and willingly surrenders his own rights. Even in secular usage this word had this connotation. Aristotle said it described “the one who by choice and habit does what is equitable, and who does not stand on his rights unduly, but is content to receive a smaller share although he has the law on his side” (Cited in Hansen, 288).
How relevant for those of us in the church! Some of the most challenging, difficult, discouraging, wearying meetings that I’ve been a part of have been those where professing believers refuse to patiently forbear sins committed against them because, “The other person was wrong; they sinned against me, and I have a right to” this, that, and the other thing! “Yes, Pastor, I know that love doesn’t take into account a wrong suffered, and bears all things, and believes all things (1 Cor 13:5, 7). I know that we are commanded to forgive one another, just as God has forgiven us in Christ (Eph 4:32). But I was right and she was wrong!” Oh friend. Paul says to you, “Why not rather be wronged? Why not ratherbe defrauded?”
First Corinthians 6 verse 7—such an astounding verse. In the context: professing Christians are suing other Christians! You can’t get much further away from “conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel” than that! And Paul says: no matter who wins the lawsuit, you both lose; it’s already a defeat for you! And then he says, “Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?” How can you insist so intensely on your own rights, you who profess to belong to the Savior who ransomed your soul from sin and death precisely by refusing to insist on His own rights—who, “though existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God” as rights to be insisted on, “but emptied Himself.”
He could only be described as equal to God the Father. He had every right to remain in such a state where that would be the only thing you could say about Him. But He didn’t insist on those rights. He took the form of a slave, such that He could say of Himself, truly, according to His human nature, “The Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). The One to whom obedience was rendered “humbled Himself by becoming obedient.” Obedient even to the point of death; obedient even to death on a cross. The Author of life died the most shameful death imaginable, so that you could be free from the bondage of insisting that everything be your own way. How can you be saved by that Gospel, and not rather be wronged, and not rather be defrauded? You see, those who have been transformed by this Gospel would rather suffer wrong than inflict wrong.
Dear people, where is that Gospel-shaped gentleness, that sweet reasonableness that gladly yields your own rights and prefers to suffer wrong for the benefit of one another? Where is that eagerness to forgive at the very first sign of repentance, that holy ambition to outdo one another in showing honor (Rom 12:10)? Where is that race to “abandon the quarrel” before strife breaks out (Prov 17:14), that refusal to be the cause of sorrow or enmity between fellow-believers—even if it means more sorrow or difficulty for you? “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5), who surrendered His rights for you, so that He, the Teacher and Lord, could be among you as the one who serves (Luke 22:27; John 13:13–14).
E. Happy Contentment
And then, quickly, number five: the one who manifests this gentleness to which we’re called is also marked by a happy contentment. And again, for the one relentlessly pursuing his joy in the Lord, this only makes sense. If we have fastened our affections on the glory of God in the face of Christ, and if in salvation the Holy Spirit has opened our eyes to behold and feast upon that glory, where is dissatisfaction going to come from? The gentle Christian is happily content! Spurgeon says, “If he can have God’s face shining upon him, he cares little whether it is hills or valleys upon which he walks.” One of my favorite hymns says, “O while Thou dost smile upon me, / God of wisdom, love, and might, / Foes may hate and friends disown me; / Show Thy face and all is bright.” The gentle Christian is the content Christian.
What a wealth of truth stored up in this one word, gentleness! Let me summarize all we’ve said by quoting John MacArthur. He writes, “Perhaps the best corresponding English word is graciousness—the graciousness of humility; the humble graciousness that produces the patience to endure injustice, disgrace, and mistreatment without retaliation, bitterness, or vengeance. It is contentment” (276).
II. The Scope
And so we have understood Paul’s command for God’s people to be dominated by a gentle, forbearing, gracious spirit. The question I want to ask now is: “To whom are we commanded to show such gentleness? What is the scope of our evident gentleness?”
So far I’ve focused my application pretty exclusively on how such gentleness is to manifest in the life of the church. And that is vitally important, and even primary in Paul’s intent. But he casts a wider scope. Look again at Philippians 4:5. He says, “Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.” And so this reasonable flexibility, this temperate gentleness, this patient forbearance, this willing surrender of our own rights, and this happy contentment is to be made manifest not only to your family, not only to a certain group of Christian friends who are very easy to get along with, not even only to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Your gentle spirit is to be made evident to all people, in all the spheres of our life before unbelievers.
We are to let our gentle spirit be evident to our families. For some of you, not every member of your household is a follower of Christ. All of us have extended family that are unbelievers. Those with young children have a built-in, in-house mission field. And especially those in an unequally yoked marriage, or who have grown children who don’t follow Christ, I can’t overstate how vital it is to let your gentle spirit be made manifest to them. To be sure, your holy life is not the Gospel; Jesus’ holy life is the Gospel. Your behavior can’t save anyone; only news of His behavior does. But: there is no greater way to undermine your preaching of that Gospel than to un-say with your life what you say with your lips. And so your gentleness must show your unbelieving family that the Gospel you preach has the power not only to justify but also to sanctify—that it’s not just pious talk, but that Jesus really has the power to transform your life.
We also must manifest gentleness before unbelievers in our profession. Some of you work under unreasonable employers, and the admonition in 1 Peter 2:18 is fitting for you. Peter writes, “Servants,” and we could insert, “and employees,” “be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under”—or patiently forbears—“sorrows when suffering unjustly.” For those employers who are not “good and gentle,” they are to learn gentleness by the example they see in their employees who name the name of Christ.
And your co-workers—they can’t stand that they have to work with someone so intolerant as to believe that the only way to be saved from eternal punishment in hell is to trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation; someone so bigoted as to refuse to affirm the sexual deviancy of the LGBTQ mafia. But friends, people expect intolerant bigots to be inflexible and harsh and always insisting on their own way. But when they see people who stand immovable upon their convictions on the one hand, but on the other hand respond to trials with joy and thanksgiving, who when they’re reviled don’t revile in return, who turn the other cheek and even repay evil with good—when they see those people, they have no category for them. “Bigots”! “Narrow-minded exclusivists”! And yet gentle, pliable, patient, always in control of their temper, content even amidst mistreatment and misrepresentation. You shine like stars in the midst of the darkness of a crooked and perverse generation (Phil 2:15). You “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect” (Titus 2:10).
And we could apply this to every other arena of life in which we interact with unbelievers, but I must mention the need for gentleness in our evangelism. I can’t think of anything more incongruous than a follower of Christ dealing harshly with someone they hope to see saved by the Gospel. And yet how easy it is to lose our temper with those who are blind and dead in their sins. But as we take the Gospel to our friends and neighbors, GraceLife, we must contend for the faith without being contentious—even when God is blasphemed or the truth is reviled.
And I know that’s difficult, because enemies of the Gospel believe and say things that ought to make you angry, that are worthy of denunciation. But it’s also difficult, as Lloyd-Jones observed, “to differentiate between (a) holy zeal or righteous indignation, and (b) the mere expression of a harsh, critical, judgmental spirit” (Life of Peace, 162). “Let your gentle spirit,” says Paul, not your critical spirit, “be made known to all men.” Let gentleness, not constant criticism, be your reputation—especially before those whom you mean to win to Christ.
III. The Ground
Now, you say, “But Paul, if I’m gentle with all people—especially to those who don’t belong to the household of faith, who are hostile to Christ and who would love nothing more than to make life difficult for me—if I patiently endure ill-treatment from them, they’re going learn fast that they can go on mistreating me without fear of retaliation! I’ve got to stick up for myself! I don’t want to be a doormat! How can we let our gentle and forbearing spirit be evident even to those who would take advantage of us?”
And how thankful we can be that Paul seems never to lay upon the shoulders of God’s people a divine imperativewithout also laying under our feet a divine indicative upon which we can stand! In verse 4 he did not merely command us to “Rejoice always,” but to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” It is our union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ—and all the privileges and benefits that that entails—that is the ground of our rejoicing. Well here also in verse 5, Paul does not merely command us, “Let your gentle spirit be made known to all men”! He also adds, “the Lord is near” (cf. MLJ, Life of Peace, 156).
And that brings us to our third point. We’ve examined the command in detail, as well as the scope of the command. Now we come to the ground and incentive for our gentleness. How can we patiently endure the ill-treatment of a hostile and perverse generation, and consistently repay evil with good? How can we subject ourselves to the attacks of the enemies of Christ and His Gospel without becoming defensive and asserting our rights? Paul says, “The Lord is near.” This is the ground of our gentleness.
Now, is Paul saying that the Lord is near in a spatial sense—the way we say, “That piano is near”? This would be saying that Christ is ever-present with His people, that He is aware of your circumstances, and is able to come to your aid. If this is Paul’s point, he’d be standing on the promise of Psalm 34:18, which says, “Yahweh is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit,” and of Psalm 73:28, which says, “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge.” Certainly that would provide a ground and incentive to gentleness: to know that at every moment, your Savior is with you, at your side—not only examining and scrutinizing your response to suffering (and thus providing you with the highest of accountability), but also there to strengthen and comfort you and to tend to the wounds you sustain on this path of obedience.
Or, is Paul saying that the Lord is near in a temporal sense—the way we say, “The Spring semester is near”—that Christ will return soon, and will bring vengeance upon the enemies of righteousness and will bring all His good promises to His people to pass. In this case, Paul would be making a similar point as James 5:8: “You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near,” or 1 Peter 4:7: “The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit….” This temporal sense would fit with the eschatological tone of Philippians 3:20 and 21, which entreats us to eagerly await our Savior from heaven and look forward to the day when He will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory. Certainly that would provide a ground and incentive to gentleness: to know that at any moment, Christ is coming to vindicate His people who suffer so mightily in this world, and that “the shame [we bear in our] persecution will soon be exchanged for the glory and honor of participating in Christ’s victory” (Hansen, 289).
So, which is it? Well, both interpretations are biblically and theologically correct, and so we ought to draw strength from both of them to fuel our gentleness. The Lord who may return at any moment to conquer our enemies and vindicate our faith is also the Lord who is near to His people at all times through the His Holy Spirit, whom He has made to dwell in us and conform us to His image.
But though both are true and are valid sources of spiritual strength and stability, I believe Paul had more in mind the temporal sense. Only a little while longer, and our dear Lord and Savior will return for us! when He will complete His work of sanctification in us and eradicate all sin from our hearts! when He will destroy the enemies of the truth who have so troubled His people! when He will reign in consummate glory and righteousness and beauty! and when we will see Him exalted and magnified, which is our hearts greatest desire! and when will be with Him forever, always to enjoy the blessedness of His fellowship! Paul’s saying, “If that’s only a little while away, you can certainly afford to be mild and reasonable, and gentle with all people.”
And I want to reflect on that reality just a little bit more. Four brief reflections on the coming of the Lord that will strengthen us to endure all manner of affliction with gentleness.
A. This World is Not Our Home
First, the imminent return of the Lord Jesus teaches us that this world is not our home. The promise of His coming reminds us that this life is a vapor when compared with eternity—just a cloud of warm breath that appears in the cold air for a moment and then vanishes away (Jas 4:4). And so all the comforts and pleasures that we think we’ll miss out on if we’re too gentle—all of those are fading away. Why should we sacrifice obedience to our Lord, making withdrawals, as it were, from the bank account of eternity, in order to invest in the commodities of this world which we know are headed for certain bankruptcy?
Jesus taught us, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21). If your treasure is stored up on an earth that is fast passing away, and someone attacks your treasure, of course you’re going to get anxious, uneasy, worked up, and easily irritated and agitated! But if all your treasure, all your satisfaction, is in heaven—if “your life is hidden with Christ in God,” Colossians 3:3—then nothing can shake you, because your treasure is hidden in the safest storehouse there is: in the eternal God Himself! And when nothing can touch your treasure, you become free to be the servant of all, because you know that whatever you could lose by being gentle with all people, “you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one,” Hebrews 10:34. Oh friends, the Lord is near! Let your gentleness be made manifest to all people.
B. Christ is Judge
Second reflection. The certain and soon coming of Christ reminds us that Christ Himself is the Judge of the world. Now, not only does this mean that we are not the judge of others, but it also means that we are subject to the Lord’s judgment. And though the world likes to rip this verse from its context and throw it our face, we must remember its proper interpretation: Matthew 7 verse 2, “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”
So when you are tempted to lose patience, when you cannot bear to forbear, when you are tempted to condemn others in harshness, devoid of the gentleness that characterizes your Lord, remember that you yourself are under His authority, that you yourself will be subject to His judgment, and that given how sinful you know yourself to be, you deeply desire Him to be so forbearing and patient with you. I don’t want Jesus to be harsh with me! I want Him to be gentle with me in my failures. I want Him to be patiently forbearing and eager to forgive me. And so I ought to be that gentle with others.
C. Vengeance is His
And very related to that, number three: the Lord’s soon coming reminds us that He alone has the right to exact vengeance. Paul speaks so directly in Romans 12:19 when he says, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” And in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul describes that vengeance specifically as it relates to the affliction of the church. He writes, “For…it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” And so far from delighting in their destruction, these thoughts ought to make you tremble and weep for them. And as that godly compassion arises in your heart, gentleness has already begun to operate (Life of Peace, 163).
D. Our Reward is Certain
And finally, the Lord’s soon coming means that our reward is certain. In Hebrews 11:25, the writer tells us that Moses “chose to endure ill-treatment with the people of God rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin”—that he “considered the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.” And then it tells us why he was able to do that: “for he was looking to the reward.” Moses was able to raise the eyes of his heart above the passing pleasures of this transient, fading world, and fix them on his unseen Savior and on the glory that was to be his when he would be taken to heaven to live forever in fellowship with Him.
Friends, there is such joy and such glory wrapped up in the Person of Christ, who is sure to be yours at His coming—which is only a few short moments away. The Lord is near! “Therefore we do not lose heart,” 2 Corinthians 4. Though our outer man patiently forbears with gentleness the mistreatment that comes from both inside and outside the church, “yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” When? Under what circumstances? “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
And so Peter exhorts the suffering Christians in the churches under his care, “fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The Lord is near! Set your heart on that day! Fix your eyes on that day! Think of what it will be to spend eternity with Jesus in just a short while! to enter into the joy of your Master and enjoy His glorious presence! And let those thoughts engender in you the gentleness of spirit that characterizes the true children of God. And let that spirit of gentleness be evident to all men.
Conclusion
To the one here this morning who is outside of Christ, who is a stranger to the grace of God, who is not yet trusting in Jesus for all your righteousness and all your forgiveness—this command is impossible for you to obey. You just can’t do it. It is contrary to the abilities of human nature to be sweetly reasonable and generous and charitable to all people. The power for such godliness, such Christlikeness, only comes from God through Christ. It is only as you are united to Him by repentant faith alone that He works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
And so, friend, you must repent of your sins. Turn away from the corruption of sin, from those things in which the Lord tells you is no satisfaction. Abandon all confidence in yourself to rescue you from judgment and earn your place in heaven, and put all your trust in Jesus alone, who has lived and died and risen again for sinners, that they might be saved and have everlasting life.
Perhaps there are some of you here who are so aware of your guilt and unworthiness that that seems to be a difficult thing to do. Perhaps there are believers here who so keenly feel your failure at following these commands from the Lord. Supposing that to be so, I want to close with a quotation from a sermon by Hugh Martin, a 19th-century Scottish minister, that reminds us all of how free the Gospel is, and how willing Christ is to be your Savior. It’s something of a dialog between Christ and one who finds himself broken under the weight of his sin. And I think it provides a fitting word for us at the start of 2026.
The sinner says, “Ah, Good Shepherd, my guilt! my guilt! I cannot go before the Holy One. I have done evil in His sight, and He is clear in judging. ‘Tis at my peril if I appear before him. ‘Tis as much as my soul is worth! For He is a consuming fire, and on my own responsibility I cannot go.” And Jesus replies, “Be it so, brother. Be it at My peril then. Be it on My responsibility. ‘As much as your soul is worth’? As much, rather, as My soul was worth when I gave My soul a ransom for sin! Therefore be it on My responsibility, for I am responsible before the Holy One for poor lost sheep such as you are. Come, under My cover, My name, My righteousness, My responsibility. He cannot cast you out.”
And the sinner replies, “But, ah, Good Shepherd, even still; my weakness! my weakness! I cannot come. I am without strength. My feeble heart misgives me. My resolution fails me, and the bruised reed gives way.” And Jesus says, “Be it so. Not your resolution settles, rules, carries the glorious case this day, but Mine. Not that you are resolute to come; but that I am resolute to bring. Rest nothing on your own resoluteness: rest everything on Mine. Take hold on Myresoluteness; let go of your own. O trust Me, trust Me! . . . Not because you are good at coming, but because I am good at bringing!”
Dear sinner, dear brothers and sisters: in 2026, “O trust Him, trust Him!” Trust nothing upon your aptness to come. Rest everything on His aptness to bring. And then: by His grace, stand firm upon that Gospel, and walk in unity, and joy, and gentleness. For that sweet Lord is near.