The Good Life: "Blessed are the Meek."

READ (MATTHEW 5:1-12 )

I’m a sports fan. Out of every sports moment I’ve ever lived through, there is no one more dominant than Mike Tyson in the 90’s. How crazy would I have to be to pick a fight with that guy? If Tyson chose not to retaliate to my antics, would you judge him as a coward? (This last week, Tyson post this to Twitter: “I ended up realizing that if anyone makes me mad, they own me. So, I try to not get mad anymore.”

There is no more dominant of a human being that has ever lived than Jesus Christ.

“In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.” - (Hebrews 1:2-4)

(Praus) - Gentle, Meek, Humble, Mild

The word is also alluded to in (Psalm 37:7-8) “Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him; do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans. Refrain from anger and give up your rage; do not be agitated—it can only bring harm.”

Out of all the beatitudes, verse 5 is often the most misinterpreted.

Meekness is not weakness. Being humble does not take away the power of a person in this world. On the contrary, being meek is a power stance.

Being independent, and apart from God’s will minimizes God’s plan for your life.

Meekness is an inward quality from knowing God.

Jesus called the disciples to display a meek attitude because He is meek.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)

Jesus doesn’t tell people to do something that He hasn’t already done.

The salvation experience is humbling to the earthy nature of the non-believer turned Christian.

Poor in spirit and mournful over one’s sin and the depravity of the world. It simply does something to a person.

Independent and “wild” people meet Jesus every day to become humble and submissive.

We become meek whenever we come close to God’s glory and realize how powerful He is. The grace of God is life-changing and changes our disposition.

People struggle with being meek because they don’t want to lose their position in society. Quit thinking about being meek toward people. Are you willing to be meek in your relationship with God?

Meekness requires a true view of self to express toward others.

We may acknowledge our own bankruptcy and moure, but to respond with meekness toward others is far harder.

Jesus said that the meek will inherit the earth—not the strong, agressive, tyranical.

Earth and land in the greek language are the same.

The Jewish nation in Exodus-Deuteronomy followed God’s will to enter the “promised land.”

Jesus alludes to the eternal promise of the kingdom of God where all believers will dwell.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the hly city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride for her husband.” - (Revelation 21:1-2)

“My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.” - (Isaiah 66:2)

Jesus was meek toward others because his ultimate purpose was to fulfill the will of His Father. He didn’t have to use his position to Lord over others. Instead, his position allow him to serve the people in His presence.

Believers have a position in heaven. An inheritance.

Anger surrounds us in society. For every 10 social media posts out there, 8 of them are a rant about something.

How do Christians handle anger?

Pick what makes us most passionate and develop an unyielding spirit towards people?

Do we become passive about everything and allow the world to run all over us?

Neither!

Rebekah Eklund in “The Beatitudes through the Ages” defines meekness like this:

“A meek person, then ‘is angry at the right things and with the right people, and, further, as he ought, when he ought, and as long as he ought.’

“Meek or gentle-tempered people are the opposite of hot-tempered, quick tempered, and sulky people (in other words, people who get angry too often, too much, and for too long); they are also the opposite of people who are though ‘not to feel things nore to be pained by them.”

You can be a meek person who has anger. You can be meek and have a spine. But, meek anger is restrained anger.

Meekness is gentleness in action.

The Greeks publicly celebrated meekness but privately saw it as a vice. The taking away of freedom.

True, biblical meekness walks in freedom from the expectations and norms of society.

“Patience is better than power, and controlling one’s emotions, than capturing a city.” (Proverbs 16:32)

The meek refrain from vengeful actions and keep away from a vengeful spirit. Meek people yield toward one another for a spiritual purpose.

“Yielding one’s ground could easily bee seen as weak in a culture that praises standing one’s ground. But the meek yield not out of fear or lack of strength, but deliberately, for the sake of the other, for the sake of Christ. Rather than striking back when mistreated, the meek pay back good for evil; they turn the other cheek; they bless the enemy rather than curse; they love and pray for their persecutors.”

When a real Christian enters a room, every person who interacts with them will know that there is a difference. A person who doesn’t want the best of them, to use, or abuse them. There is a gentleness that whispers of the very nature of Jesus himself.

Ignatius, an early Christian bishop who was killed in Rome in AD 108 by the beasts in the amphitheatre wrote, “Be yourselves gentle to their wrath, be humble minded to answer their proud speaking; offer prayer for their blasphemy; be steadfast in faith for their error; be gentle for their cruelty, and do not seek to retaliate. Let us be proved their brothers by our gentleness and let us be imitators of the Lord, and see who may suffer the more wrong, be the more destitute, the more despised, that no plant of the devil be found in you but that you remain in all purity and sobriety in Jesus Christ, both in the flesh and in the Spirit.”

Being meek may seem weak to the world. But in the kingdom of God, the meek are warriors.