Untitled Sermon (2)

Suppose you were giving your CV a polish, would meek be a word that you would include in your personal statement.

Or what if you are involved in recruiting staff, is meek a word that we would find in the essential and desirable person specification.

Is meek a quality we look for in our politicians or leaders?

If you were to take a look at the Collins English dictionary, you find:

Meek.

1.

humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others.

2.

overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame.

3.

Obsolete. gentle; kind.

Bit of a mixed bag really, docile is not a great look is it.

Brings to mind images of well trained pets.

Spiritless, overly submissive or compliant, tame.

There’s the pet thing again.

Then we get to the idea of meek meaning gentle and kind…..but oh, wait- that’s obsolete.

We’ve moved on, we don’t do that anymore.

We live in the days of” I’m worth it, and Have it your way and Just do it…….all ad slogans by the way.

These days the concept of kindness and gentleness and humility is Obsolete.

Or at least as it pertains to meekness.

It seems we don’t do meek anymore, so our 3rd Beatitude comes as a bit of a surprise.

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth,"

That’s where we’ll spend our time together today, and I’d like for us to think about the reality of meekness and the reward of meekness, and how these impact our lives as followers of Jesus, as disciples, as taught ones.

Firstly we’ll consider the reality of meekness, and as we’ve just begun to think about:

· Meekness distorted.

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth,"

It’s a statement that seem’s counter intuitive, at least to the noise the media in our culture makes.

Modern life’s about living large and in charge, about making your breaks and taking your chances.

Boss level living.

Fake it till you make it.

The idea of being humble, patient, submissive, gentle and kind is a million miles away from the slogans we are bombarded with on a day to day basis.

Our culture constantly pushes messages of vanity, immediate gratification, and materialism.

Life is what you make it, and it’s yours for the taking.

Now we might consider this to be a contemporary problem, but it’s not, there was just as much of this kind of noise in the culture that Jesus was confronting in our text today.

In first century Israel, there were different groups, all wielding power and influence and each with a different expectation of what it meant to be part of the people of God.

Jesus’ words here echoed those of :

“In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;

though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

11 But the meek shall inherit the land

and delight themselves in abundant peace.”

Those words written by David, spoke of God’s promise given through Abraham, that the people of God would inherit the land.

1000 years had passed since their writing, and Israel had gone through the wringer.

100 years after their writing, the land was divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdom due to leadership wrangles and ambition and a pretty major lack of meekness.

Then there was 200 years of mainly wicked and corrupt leaders, 19 in total. Again, it seemed meekness was in hosrt supply.

Then we have the Assyrian exile and the Babylonian exile which swept the people of God away from the land.

In both cases it most definitely not the meek who gained the victory and the land.

The Lord in his providence, brought the majority of the people back to the land in 537 B.C.

But this promise of David remained out of reach, because we know that they suffered harsh treatment under the hands of the Persians, then Alexander the Great, then the Syrians.

The last two centuries prior to Jesus life, was marked by a 100 year reign of the ruthless Hasmonean dynasty and finally we come to the situation in which we find the land in the time of Jesus life and ministry.

Roman rule, with a mixed bag of kings, procurators and governors appointed by the Emperor.

As Jesus spoke these words we know that Herod was the Tetrarch, the ruler of Galilee and Pontius Pilate was the Procurator of Judea.

There was a tension between the men, and the communities and cultures they represented. And this was a tension which was made worse by their own compromise, ruthlessness, cunning and self service.

Again, a distinct lack of meekness.

So, it seems that we have a 1000 years of history that contradict Jesus’ words.

The worship of the God of Israel, which was central to jewish identity was dominated by 4 groups.

The Pharisees, the Saducees, the Zealots and the Essenes.

In looking to scripture, in looking to this promise, each had a different view in how the restoration of the countries fortunes would be brought about.

The Pharisees were religious conservatives, who desired to see Rome overthrown and looked to God raising up his promised Messiah, who would overhthrow Israels foes in a spectacular revolution.

The Saducees were well educated, of the priestly class, highly political- and were looking to their own politicking to bring about an economic solution to Israel.

The Zealots hated the Romans, and were looking to a military solution, one which they held in the hands of their sicarii, dagger men, who assassinated the enemies of the Jewish state.

And then we have the Essenes, who opted out of all responsibility and involvement within society, and withdrew into desert communities.

They believed the solution was found in a reclusive lifestyle.

John Macarthur, sums up the cultural noise of the time this way:

The Pharisees sought a miraculous answer, the Saducees sought a materialistic answer, the Zealots sought a militaristic answer and the Essenes sought a monastic answer…..but Jesus cut right across all four philosophies and taught that. “..the meek will inherit the earth.

It’s an age old problem, man has always sought to gain the earth by his own will, resources and strength.

That’s why Jesus message of the Kingdom, the Gospel is revolutionary.

That’s why the way Jesus calls those who are citizens of his Kingdom to live is revolutionary.

If we are trusting Christ as Our Saviour and looking to Him as Our Lord.

Then we are entirely new creations, new people, we are citizens of an entirely different Kingdom.

The world looks to its strength and power to inherit the earth.

Conquest, power and self effort.

Those who are citizens of Christ’s Kingdom look to his strength, to his power to inherit the earth.

Surrender, weakness and self abasement.

This Kingdom life is just as revolutionary, just as shocking, just as antithetical to the culture we live in as it was to the culture of 1st century Israel, even more so, as we live in a time where belief in the God of Scripture is no longer central to the life of our culture.

Our culture has made meekness, obsolete- gentleness and kindness, meekness is an old fashioned idea.

To be meek in the world’s eyes is to be docile, tame, spiritless.

It’s to be avoided.

And yet we have to deal with these words that Jesus has left us, to be meek in Jesus’ eyes is to be blessed, it is something to be desired.

As we wait for Jesus we can be like the Pharisees, the Saducees, the Zealots and the Essenes.

We come up with our own ways to get things done, we may think we can earn our way, our politic our way, our push our way into God’s favour. Or we can be like the Essenes, and think that pulling away, living a life of avoidance, can earn our way into God’s favour. We know what it is like to live in a culture which is hostile to our faith, we also know what is like to look around throw our hands up. And say How long, Lord. How long, Lord.

The temptation has always been to take matters into our own hands in some way, and that’s dangerous ground for us as Christians.

So we need to hear these words from Jesus this day, that our inheritance doesn’t rest on our own efforts, we don’t make our breaks and take our chances in the Kingdom.

Our inheritance comes in meekness.

So it’s vital that we understand what God means by meekness.

It’s vital we live in light of the reality of meekness.

But our understanding of meekness has been distorted, and to remedy this distortion we’ll look to scripture. (12mins).

But our understanding of meekness has been distorted, and to remedy this distortion we’ll look to scripture.