The Gentle

This sermon finds a picture of the gentle in the way a river flows steadily toward the sea without wavering. Spiritual gentleness comes from a wide heart that embraces everything and from an unshakable faith, and it means quietly carrying out the work one has been given without being swayed by emotion. True maturity is not showing one's true colors at once like a small puddle, but enduring until hardship passes and becoming God's instrument.

Through the martyrdom of Stephen, the sermon shows how this gentleness is lived out. Even as he proclaimed the gospel to the people throwing stones at him, he did not lose the peace on his face, and to the very moment of his death he prayed for those who were killing him. This attitude goes beyond simple endurance; it includes the courage to face one's own sin squarely and to proclaim the truth as it is, without hiding it. Through the case of the apostle Paul, who was saved through Stephen's prayer and went on to walk the same road and enlarge its borders, the sermon also emphasizes that gentleness leads in the end to the growth of the kingdom of God.

When believers obey God's word rather than their feelings and endure hardship, God uses them as holy instruments to save many souls. The sermon asks believers to proclaim the gospel with a gentle heart like Stephen and Paul, unshaken by the world's temptations, and to enlarge the borders of the kingdom of God.