The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth

The beatitudes are not given in a vacuum but in relation to Jesus’ beginning to preach repentance and the coming of the Kingdom (v 4:17)

the sermon on the mount start to lay a foundation, not for how one is to act, but how one is to think

not simply for what we are to do, but what we are to be

blessed are the poor in spirit, is not about how we behave, but how we view ourselves in comparison to God’s righteousness

blessed are those who mourn teaches us that our sin is so grievous that we ought to be broken over who we are

Now we shift to blessed are the meek

The church has failed in many area’s, but I believe this our understanding of meekness, and how we teach it, is one of our largest.

We often correlate meek to weak.

even as a little child, I can remember hearing meekness being taught and hating the idea of being a pushover

meekness is not that you should be a pushover, but that you should have restraint.

Meekness in the Old Testament

The word for meek does not appear often in the Bible.

In the Old Testament it is translated from two words, meaning humility and bow.

In one place it speaks of Moses as the most meek person to ever live (Number 12:3)

But it often carries the idea of being poor or oppressed

Such as in Isaiah 11:4 “4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”

and Isaiah 29:19 “19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.”

But in the Psalms a sticking use of the word meek appears.

David writes in Psalm 37:11 “11 But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.”

Jesus was not giving a new teaching, but in fact rehashing an Old Testament passage

If we look at the theme of the 37th Psalm, we see that David is teaching us that while evil people may prosper for a while, they will not prosper for ever

(Read Psalm 37:1–13)

The teaching in this psalm isn’t that being weak is good, but that the Lord will fight for those that have a right heart.

We see commands like “Wait for the lord”, Be still, do not fret, wait patiently, commit your ways, trust him

These are some of the parallels’ used alongside meek

In the New Testament

In the Old Testament we often see meekness as tied to your status in life

If you are poor or oppressed you are meek.

When we transition to the New Testament, we see meekness more as a personal character trait we are to aspire toward

Paul describes addresses the Corinthians with meekness that he relates to Jesus by saying: 2 Corinthians 10:1 “1 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!—”

Christ was meek, but was Christ opressed?

Keep this picture of Christ and His meekness as we keep exploring what it means to be meek

Colossians 3:12 “12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,”

Paul seems to see a relationship between kindness, humility, patience, compassion and meekness

He doesn’t relate meekness to being poor or oppressed, as the Old Testament writers tended to do

but instead relates it to a way in which we relate with other

Paul brings to the idea of meekness, an guide for how we are to treat our brothers and sisters

James, then directs us to “receive with meekness (James 1:21) the implanted word, which is able to save your souls”

How do we receive something with meekness?

First, by recognizing we have a need

This might bring back the idea of being in poverty, but it’s less about our status, and more about our ability to recognize our status

Ex. Someone that has a need but will not accept assistance

They have a need, but are not meek

Instead, they are poor and proud

This relates well to our spiritual state, and the two prior beatitudes

One who realizes he is poor in sprit, and has mourned over his sin has acknowledged his inability to save himself

We cannot be meek without first being poor in spirit.

If we believe we are spiritually rich, and think too highly of ourselves, we are not meek, but boastful and proud

Likewise, if we have not mourned our sinfulness, then we do not recognize how distant from the Lord we are

But when we receive with meekness the Gospel we humble ourselves

We recognize and acknowledge that there is not other means to reconciliation with our God than through the blood of Christ

We are no longer like the beggar that refuses help we become instead like the woman who approaches Jesus and says “even the dogs eat the scraps from the table”

We joyfully, humbly and gratefully accept the gift of salvation that we could never earn ourselves

And this is the earth we will inherit

Through being meek, and receiving salvation, we will be able to participate with Christ in His kingdom.

We will inherit the earth, not because it will be ours, but because it is His.

He will reign, and we will live for eternity with Him

Living Meekly

So when we look at the idea of meekness, humility comes closest

Spurgeon describes Christian meekness as: humble, gentle, patient, forgiving and content

We are to recognize our need for Christ, but as Paul told us in Colossians, we are to treat each other with meekness

We are to look at each other as more important than ourselves

It’s not just how we are to treat those we like, but those we do not like

those that mistreat us

Spurgeon told a story about a man sitting down to eat when another threw a glass of water in his face.

This did not happen once, but was repeated three times

Each time Mr Deering, the man eating, took his handkerchief and whipped his face, saying nothing

See, it is easy to be meek with people we get along with, but what about situations like this?

“it is hard for me to look at them the way Jesus looks at them”

To be meek is to be like Jesus

Who as He hung, look at his false accusers

in His omnipresence saw Peter, the denier, wherever he may have been,

But had the power and authority to call down the armies of heaven, but did not

Why? Because he humbled himself

Not because He was weak and couldn’t, but because He was meek and didn’t