The Fruit of the Spirit - Meekness and Temperance Galatians 5:22-23

Introduction

Tonight as we finish our series on the Fruit of the Spirit, we will look at two very important characteristics of a spirit filled life. Both of these were taught by Christ during his time on earth. Therefore as we live the Christian life we should grow in both meekness and temperance along with the other characteristics.

Have you ever noticed how refreshing it is to meet someone who has developed these characteristics? As Christians we should be cultivating these characteristics every day.

Meekness

What is Meekness

Meekness is often defined as weakness, but meekness is not weakness. It is actually quite the opposite, Meekness can be defined as power under control.

One commentator said this “Meekness in the bible is the prerogative of strength, not weakness.

Another definition of meekness is “the attitude of heart that accepts the Lord’s dealings with us as good, perfect, and acceptable, and are not open for dispute or resistance.

Jesus’ description of himself

In scripture Jesus tells us about his heart in Matthew 11:29.

He tells us that he is meek and lowly in heart

When we think about Jesus, we can’t help to think about the power he possessed.

Jesus was God in the flesh and his power is so great that through his spoken word the world had come into existence.

As a man he chose to put Himself at the complete disposal of His Father and the Holy Spirit.

Think about the Power he displayed

When he turned water into wine

When he multiplied the fish and loaves and fed a crowd

We he calmed the storm with his spoken word

When Pilate was threatening him and Jesus looked at him and said this John 19:11 Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above:

When the Sanhedrin sent the soldiers to arrest Jesus and all he had to say was “I AM” and they went backwards and fell to the ground.

Think about all that power that Jesus has and yet he willing died in our place. When Jesus was about to die, the scripture says this John 19:28 “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.”

“Out of great strength he submitted patiently to the terrible indignities and injuries inflicted on Him at his trial and crucifixion”

As Christians we should emulate the life that Christ lived on the earth. We should be meek in all aspects of our life

Another example of meekness in the Bible is Moses

In Numbers 12:3 the Bible tells us that Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth.

The early years of Moses weren’t very meek

When he smote the Egyptian

When he stood up to the shepherds at the well in Midian to champion the cause of the daughters of Reuel

John Phillips said this “It took 40 years in the wilderness, in the backside of the desert, to distil in Moses’ soul the submissive spirit that marked so conspicuously the years of his public ministry.”

The thing that caused the Holy Spirit to draw specific attention to the meekness of Moses was a very personal thing.

Moses’ brother, Aaron, Israels high priest, and his sister, Miriam, Israel’s first prophetess, had attacked Moses verbally “because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married” While the typical man would fight back physically or verbally if someone was being verbally abusive of our wife, but Moses displayed Christ like character in connection with this insult that God himself intervened directly, not only to reward his meekness, but to also punish the offenders.

Miriam - directly Numbers 12:10 “And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.”

Aaron - Indirectly Numbers 12:11 “And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.”

While Moses learned meekness, he failed in his greatest strength. In the end, he was kept from entering the promised land (a picture of the victorious Christian life) for losing his temper and speaking hastily with his lips. Numbers 20:3-12.

Meekness is a characteristic that has to be cultivated. We can only achieve true meekness through the power of the Holy Spirit as we live a spirit filled life.

Jesus gave us a promise in the beatitudes

Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”

Temperance

Temperance can be defined as self control, but not as the world defines self control. The word here means self control gives the picture as an athlete training for an important race.

John Phillips put it this way “This reference is to the rigid regime and severe training that athletes impose upon themselves, over many months to achieve their goal.

It is different than practicing self control by only eating two Oreo’s instead of 10. It’s much deeper than that.

It is self control in all things, and is used to describe the person who had powerful passions but kept them under control.

Jesus a great picture of temperance.

At his trial before Caiaphas:

He practiced self control as he sat there listening to the false witnesses testified against him after getting paid by the chief priest and elders. The Bible tells us in Matthew 26 that he held his peace.

Think about the self control he practiced as members of the Sanhedrin spat in his face, slapped him and smote him as they taunted him to “prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee. (Matthew 26:67-68)

As he stood before Herod:

The jewish authorities “stood and vehemently accused him” and “Herod with his men at war set him at nought and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.”

All while that is going on Jesus is taking all that maintained self control

As he stood before Pilate:

The scourging, the mocking, the unjust sentence of the governor, the release of Barabbas over him, and the cry of the crowd to crucify him and through all that he maintained self control.

Think about Christ on calvary

Think about how the nails were driven in his hands and feet

think about the crown of thorns that was shoved on his head

think about the sign they put above the cross

and then think about he reacted

He asks God to forgive them

He takes care of his mom

He promises the thief eternal life

Not one time did he lose his self control.

His mind, heart and will were all under the control of the spirit, right down to the moment were he dismissed his spirit, bowed his head and died.

You might be thinking how does this apply to me tonight.

I believe none of us will ever have to suffer the way that Jesus suffered, but in the suffering we have, we can practice temperance. When things don’t go the way we plan, practice self control. When someone is mean to you, practice self control. Just as jesus practiced this in every aspect of his life here on earth we can as well.

Temperance is not a result of the mind, the emotions and the senses brought under the human will; it is a result of the human will being brought under the control of the Holy Spirit.

Only the Holy Spirit can produce this type of temperance.

Conclusion

As Christians we should loving, full of joy, calm, peaceful, patiently submissive to God at all time, gentle, good, completely dependable, strong and above reacting to provoking, come what may.

Next week we will look at how to practice the Spirit filled life as we close out this series.