Strength Under Control

Introduction

We continue today with our study of the Sermon on the Mount with 2 more Beatitudes. These are foundational characteristics about what it means to be a citizen in God’s Kingdom. Matthew’s Gospel introduces Jesus as King, and in this sermon we find the manifest of the King for his Kingdom. And King Jesus is offering to people a kingdom of happiness - real happiness.

In offering happiness, he must contrast the principles of happiness against the world’s definition of happiness and the source of that happiness. So, he begins with a series of paradoxes. So far we’ve looked at two of those principles, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3) and “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4)

Today we look at the next two Beatitudes found in verses 5 & 6. Let us examine the first of these two

Matthew 5:5 “5 Blessed are the lowly [meek], for they shall inherit the earth.”

The famous atheist Frederick Nietzsche, who coined the phrase “God is dead,” once said, “Assert yourself. Care for nothing except yourself. The only vice is weakness and the only virtue is strength. Be strong. Be a superman. The world is yours if you work hard enough for it” Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). Two very different ideas. Although the first words are from an atheist, and the last quote from the teaching of Jesus, it often seems that Christians go by Nietzsche’s philosophy rather than Jesus’ teaching. Many Christians live as though the only virtue is strength. Jesus never talked about strength, but he often spoke of meekness. (Credit: Sermon Central)

So we must first answer the question, what is meekness? I think the best answer to that question is first determining what it is not. I saw one definition that said meekness was “spineless and deficient in courage.” That would possibly be a worldly definition, although not common, but it is not what the Greek means.

The Greek word is praus and it is defined by Aristotle in his work on ethics. For Aristotle, virtues were always defined as a means between an excess of the virtue and a deficiency of it. For instance, Generosity is a means between stinginess and wastefulness. So to Aristotle, meekness was a virtue between excessive anger and the inability to show anger at all. For Aristotle, the meek man is the man “who is angry on the right occasion and with the right people and at the right moment for the right length of time.” (Boice)

A second definition of praus is to describe a wiled animal that is domesticated. Farmers used it to describe a colt that had been broken. These animals had learned to accept control by their masters and could behave properly. Over time, the word came to alsoo refer to people who knew how to behave and eventually would translate over in english for gentlemen.

Meekness is not weakness. It does not denote cowardice or spinelessness or timidity. Meekness does not suggest indecisiveness, a lack of self-confidence, nor does it infer someone with a shy, withdrawn personality. Meekness is rooted in self-control and it is one who is able to balance anger with gentleness. It is strength under control because our strength, hope, and help all come from God alone

Jesus is using Psalm 37:3-7, 10-11“3 Trust in Yahweh and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in Yahweh; And He will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to Yahweh, Trust in Him, and He will do it. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday. 7 Be still in Yahweh and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out schemes of wickedness. 10 Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; You will look carefully at his place, and he will not be there. 11 But the lowly [meek] will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant peace.”

Does that describe you in your life right now and the situation you are surrounded in your days? Meekness not on.,y realizes the seriousness of the situation, but they are facing and is ready to do whatever it takes to handle that situation, however only under the direction of the Lord. This is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) because the believer’s life is continually lead by the Holy Spirit. It is confidence in God instead of arrogance in ourself. In other words, MEEKNESS IS THE COMPLETE ABSENCE OF CONFIDENCE IN MYSELF AND AN ABSOLUTE, UNASHAMED, BOLD, STEADFAST, CONFIDENCE IN GOD.

A Little Boy wanted $100.00 badly and prayed to God for a whole week, but nothing happened. So, he decided to write God a letter requesting the $100.00. When the Post Office got the letter addressed to God they forwarded it on to the Whitehouse. The President was very impressed, touched and amused so he instructed his aid to send the boy $5.00. He thought $5.00 would be a lot to the little boy. The boy was, indeed, delighted by the money. He sat down and wrote a thank you note immediately, which read:

Dear God,

Thank you very much for sending the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you had to send it through Washington and, as usual, they kept most of it.

Meekness is also dependent upon our realization of our spiritual poverty and sinfulness. It is not a passive acceptance of one’s sinfulness nor any sin. Meekness is a realization that you can’t do anything about your sinfulness but you humbly delight yourself to be strong through God. Meekness is not the absence of courage, it gives you the courage to do the right thing as defined by God’s Word in order to please Him.

That’s exactly the way Jesus lived his life. He refused to condemn those who needed forgiveness, yet he stood boldly against the Pharisees and twice he went into he temple to cleanse it. He blast the hypocrites, yet he healed the sick, delivered the demoniacs, and calmed the storms, but his power was always under the control of the Father. So that, even as Judas came and kissed him in betrayal, Jesus sincerely called him friend.

The kind of meekness seen in Jesus is the kind of meekness that should be displayed in the Christian life and there are three concurrent paths to Christ-like meekness. First, we must realize that a gentle spirit is a gift of the Holy Spirit and requires the transformation and the work of God. We must surrender our egos and our arrogance to God.

Secondly, we must yoke ourselves to Jesus . Matthew 11:29-30 “29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Third, we must give close attention to the progression of through in the ladder of the Beatitudes, understanding that meekness cannot come without first understanding our spiritual poverty, which leads to our grief over the sin our lives, which allows the Spirit to find strength in our dependance upon God instead of ourselves.

Jesus continues to quote from Psalm 37, "...the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace." (Proverbs 37:11) Jesus takes it a step further and said that the meek will rule and reign with Christ upon this earth someday. (2 Tim. 2:12). True meekness is not a natural character trait. It can only be obtained by knowing Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord by denying ourselves and following him. In doing so, our meekness brings hunger and thirst to be more like him.

Matthew 5:6 “6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

There is a saying, “You are what you eat” when it comes to our physical health. That saying is even more penetrating when it comes to spiritual health. Unfortunately, the Church has become addicted to spiritual junk food and would rather be couch potatoes than hungry for the meat of God’s Word.

Today’s world is driven by a desire for materialism and sensuality and that is seen in the church who feels like we must entertain the goats than feed Jesus’ sheep. According to reports, “the Church of England will look into the use of gender neutral terms to refer to God in prayers” Drag Queens, immorality, pagan worship, and lukewarmness have invaded most of today’s church. We’re more interested in being entertained, comforted, and self-help sermon series by entertainers than fed the truth of God’s Word. Even more, most Christians in today’s church are so biblically illiterate, they have no idea when they face false teachers.

John MacArthur tells us that the greatest danger in today’s church isn’t from outside the church but within. The greatest problem, MacArthur says, is that Christians have no discernment when it comes to what is being taught in the church today. In other words, there’s no hunger for God.

But Christ tells us that hunger for righteousness is an essential to spiritual health and satisfaction. So the next question we must ask, is what is this righteousness we are to hunger for? Some have supposed that it is an objective righteousness described by Paul in Romans 1:17 “17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY FAITH.” This is sometimes called imputed righteousness, but that’s not what is meant here by Jesus.

Others have implied a Social Righteousness of being a servant to the poor and oppressed. However, that still falls short of what Christ is describing here.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ uses righteousness seven times to describe a subjective or inner righteousness that is a result of an overflow in someone living according to God’s will. In others words, they hunger and thirst for their lives to be such a reflection of Jesus, it is the very basic element of their spiritual life just as eating and drinking is the basic element of our physical lives.

Psalm 42:1 “1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.”

What many fail to understand is that Jesus is not recommending an obligatory or even well-mannered desire for spiritual nourishment, but rather an utter starvation for righteousness in order to be conformed to God’s Word.

Psalm 63:1 LSB

1 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land without water.

Psalm 17:5 “5 My steps have held fast to Your paths. My footsteps have not stumbled.”

This is how it is for the healthy believer, you are never satisfied, you never have enough of God. You are always hungry.

In 436 B.C., Rome experienced a famine that caused thousands of people to throw themselves into the Tiber River. In 1005 AD, England suffered a famine, and all of Europe suffered from famine in 879, 1016, and 1162. Even in modern history, places like China, India, and Africa have suffered from famine. In recent months, the US Secretary General Antonio Guterres warns there could be widespread famine around the globe. Meanwhile, here in the US a mysterious rash of fires are happening in food processing plants, farms, and chicken farms are threatening food shortages here in the US.

Nothing is more threatening to our wellbeing than the spiritual famine that is happening. In the heart of the non-believer is a hunger for anything but God’s righteousness, Instead, there is a hunger for sin. They hunger for addictions, sex, sorcery, entertainment, money, and power. All of these things may immediately seem to fill a void, but they will eventually leave you feeling more empty than ever before.

Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said this, “There are large numbers of people in the Church today who seem to spend the whole of their life seeking something which they can never find, seeking for some kind of happiness and blessedness. They go around from meeting to meeting, and convention to convention, always hoping they are going to get this wonderful thing, this experience that is going to fill them with joy and flood them with some ecstacy. They see that other people have had it but they themselves do not seem to get it.” The problem, Lloyd-Jones, continues to say, is that they are seeking after the wrong thing… they are hungry for the gifts instead of the Gift-Giver.

Paul said Phil 3:8 “8 More than that, I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ”

Notice that Jesus says that the believer must hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness. Nothing can satisfy the need of the soul apart from Christ himself. Do you know the importance of water to our physical bodies? When our bodies fail to retain the right amount of water, dehydration sets in. It is the water in our body that determines the vitality, strength, and energy associated with daily living. Think about these facts associated with our body and water:

The human body is ⅔ water.

The body absorbs cold water faster than hot water.

By the time you are 70-years-old, you will have required 1½ million gallons of water.

Studies show that increasing water consumption can decrease fat deposits. Water is a natural appetite suppressant.

If you loose 2% of your body’s water supply, your energy will decrease by 20%. A 10% decrease in water, you will be unable to walk, and a 20% decrease – you’re dead.

You can live without food for weeks and even months, but you can only live without water a few days. Just as you cannot survive without food, and especially water, so you cannot survive without Jesus. This is a basic spiritual principle here that we must all come to realize. There is no, “fake it till you make it” when it comes to your spiritual life and eternity. The most essential question you can ask yourself is who am I depending on for the satisfaction for my soul? Is there any question about your longing for God’s righteousness.

If you are finding yourself saying no, then you need to seriously seek God about your salvation. You are not a Christian by coming to church or attending a Bible study. You are a Christian through the supernatural intervention of Christ to your rebirth and in that you have a hunger for spiritual food.

It also may be that you are a Christian who has drifted from the priority of Christ Jesus in your life. You were once spiritually healthy, but are now depending on the perishable things of this world for your life. Either way, my call is for you to se your life right before God now. It is here in Christ you will find yourself completely filled and satisfied.

Will you come to Him today?