Meekness Not Weakness

Psalm 37:11 NKJV

11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

Matthew 5:5 NKJV

5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

It has always been in the plan of God for His children to have dominion in the earth.

I want to inherit the earth...BUT…do I have to be weak?

Infant Jesus, meek and mild, look on me a little child. Pity mine and pity me, suffer me to come to you.

Heart of Jesus, I adore you. Heart of Mary, I implore you. Heart of Joseph, pure and just. In these three hearts, I put my trust.

Help us Joseph in our early strife, ever to lead a pure and blameless life.

Many, many people have a picture of a very frail, non-confrontational, sissified, weakling Jesus who expects us to be the same way.

This is really a turn-off to a lot of men & a potential reason why the modern Christian church is so heavily populated by women.

Jesus came for BOTH (masculine) men & women and wants His House filled with both.

Is it possible that we have been misunderstanding who Jesus was and what meekness is?

John 2:13–17 NKJV

13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”

Jesus didn’t stop being meek when He did this. He demonstrated it.

Matthew 26:52–54 NKJV

52 But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?”

2 noteworthy things were happening in this scripture:

1. Jesus was addressing Peter acting upon his natural capabilities.

2. Jesus was expressing that He had capacity to act in a BIG way

A Roman Legion was often 6,000 soldiers in size. - Jesus could’ve had called down more than 72,000 angels.

Greek word for meek is Praus - Implies “Power Under Control”

& viewed as the middleground between acting out of Extreme Anger & Extreme Angerlessness

Jesus demonstrated that although He had the Power/Ability to act, He chose to place that power under the control of the Father & His will

Jesus’ possessed the ability and commitment to constrain His power to the will of the Father in order to fulfill the plans of God that resulted in OUR blessing!

He had MEEKNESS

How do I get meekness?

Galatians 5:22–23 ASV 1901

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 meekness, self-control; against such there is no law.

Meekness is a Spiritual Fruit, not a natural character trait.

They may look very similar sometimes, but there is a genuine difference - like a real firearm versus an airsoft version.

The ONLY legitimate source of Meekness is the Spirit of God!

Meekness is a fruit & fruit takes time to grow and mature

A Christian is not meant to live a powerless life, but is expected to live life filled with power under the control of the Spirit of God.

Luke 9:53–56 NKJV

53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.

Jesus didn’t tell His disciples they were silly because they couldn’t call fire down from Heaven - He addressed the spirit that caused them to want to act upon that ability.

Christians are designed to live with power & from their God-renewed spirit

John 4:24 NKJV

24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Genesis 1:26 NKJV

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

We are FIRST a spirit being, who has a soul & lives in a body.

How many of us live primarily natural lives and give a nod to our spiritual nature 1x/week on a Sunday, etc.?

Many Christians live a completely natural life and season it with a little bit of Jesus.

It is entirely possible to be saved from an eternity in Hell & live the way we have always lived on earth - Our own way.

Do you just “let it rip” with your words or actions “because you can?”

This is not “BOLDNESS” - this is a lack of submission

Or do you have that power under the control of the Spirit of God?

1 Corinthians 3:1–3 NKJV

1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Carnal = Being New in Spirit, but living by the unregenerate (old) nature

This is not the life that Jesus paid for us to live.

So that, assuming that anyone is in Christ, he is a creation new in quality. The antiquated, out-of-date things [which do not belong to the new life in Christ Jesus] have passed away. Behold, all things have become new in quality. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Wuest

God created us to be led (induced) by His Spirit if we are His children.

Romans 8:14 NKJV

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

If we live being led by God’s Spirit, we will quickly begin to walk in the Spiritual fruit of meekness.

Just One Thing:

Make a choice to live led by God’s Spirit, full of power & under His loving control!

We all must live this way to be successful in these last days

Discussion Questions:

What word is a lot of fun to say?

What is one thing that you learned from this sermon about meekness that was new to you or really impacted you. Please share a little bit.

Read 2 Corinthians 5:17 (in as many translations as you can) and share what this means to you.

What is at least one area that you have been living your own way and exercising power that is not under the Holy Spirit’s control yet?