Matthew 5:5
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Again we see here a striking quote from Jesus made in this context. It was striking to them then and it is still striking to us now. This idea of meekness is regarded as puny or weak to the world.
The world taunts the meek. They say, ASSERT YOURSELF! BE FORCEFUL! BE POWERFUL! FLEX YOUR MUSCLES! SHOW YOUR STRENGTH!
But as we will see, Jesus says the very opposite of what the world calls us to do.
Our culture has this obsession with power and showing strength to others. Retaliation is very popular in our society, we are almost given a license to retaliate whenever someone wrongs us or says something about us.
Military Messiah
Military Messiah
One of the primary reasons why the people of this day didn’t take well to Jesus saying this is that they wanted a military general for a messiah. They wanted to believe that the messiah was going to ride in on a white horse wearing armor and carrying a sword and relieve them from Roman oppression. They thought Jesus was going to be a powerful military general who would create an army of fighters that would conquer the world with their brute force.
So, when Jesus here says “blessed are the meek” they are not happy with the fact that this messiah that they thought would come in and bully everybody around is really gentle, humble, and meek.
In effect, Jesus says - NO, that’s not the way to win souls. That’s the way to lose souls. To win souls we must not use military might or strength, but show the World the Love of the FATHER through meekness.
You remember that John the Baptist even questioned that Jesus was the messiah because of his humble attitude and meek spirit. records that account where John the Baptist says “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?
Everyone was confused about this messiah that was not a military general, he was a humble king, meek and mild.
I tell you that to make the point that this was a very difficult saying for the crowd and the disciples to hear. It was exactly opposite of what they were expecting.
Meekness - What is it?
Meekness - What is it?
Not weakness, as it is often confused with. In fact, it is the very opposite of weakness.
Not being passive towards sin, not a
Other versions use the word humble, gentle.
Other versions use the word humble, gentle.
Meekness is best defined as “power under control”
Meekness is best defined as “power under control”
Illustrations of power under control
Fire. What raw power fire has. Fire has the ability to destroy when it is out of control. We see it
in these wildfires in California that burn for weeks at a time. Fire can take over and destroy anything in it’s path if it isn’t controlled.
But, fire has great benefits if it’s controlled. Cooking, heat, light - all of those are beneficial and helpful. So many uses for fire, but only if it’s under control.
Wind. Wind is the same way as fire. Enormous raw power. Wind has the power to create hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, and dust storms. All of those things are very destructive when wind is out of control. I’ve seen trucks turn over on the interstate because of the raw power of wind.
But again, wind can provide so much benefit if it is controlled (we can’t control it obviously). Wind can produce energy and dry the mud out that we have had. Wind can fill a sail on a boat and make it float.
Horses. Think about horses and how these folks who train them take them from not even being able to saddle them at all, not even a human can touch them - to being able to be do almost anything the rider asks at their command.
That’s the way God wants us to be. He wants us to have power under control. We will talk more about this in a little while.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Matthew 2. The Beatitudes, 5:3–12
True meekness may be a quality of the strong, those who could assert themselves but choose not to do so. The strong who qualify for this blessing are the strong who decline to domineer.
Think of a Clydesdale horse. So much power, so much raw energy capable of doing great damage - yet when they are trained well they respond with only a small bit in their mouth. Power under control.
Follows previous 2 Beatitudes
Follows previous 2 Beatitudes
Again we see a progression from the first 2 Beatitudes. Those who are poor in spirit and mourn over their sin are naturally made to be meek.
My sin has humbled me. I don’t know about you, but I am humbled by my sin. I see my sin and my tendency to walk off the straight and narrow, and I am humbled by how sinful I am despite God’s grace in my life.
Your sin will humble you
So, I’ll ask you - does your sin humble you? Does your sin against a righteous and holy God who died for you bring you to your knees? It should.
These Beatitudes are getting harder. Have you noticed that? They are getting more difficult as we go along. And this one puts a searchlight on our attitude to see whether we have been changed by the Gospel of Jesus.
Also, this Beatitude takes it a little further in the sense that now we aren’t just dealing with our spiritual bankruptcy, or mourning over our own sin, but now we bring other people into the equation.
You don’t know someone else is meek unless they are provoked to show you their meekness. Meekness as we said earlier isn’t retaliating when we have a right to.
I mean, it’s one thing for us to condemn ourselves and our sin - but it’s a whole other issue whenever someone says that ABOUT us.
Let me give you a meekness test really quick. This will be simple.
Let’s say you have an issue with anger. It’s your main struggle. And you say to yourself and to others frequently that you have an issue with anger.
Well, what if someone comes up to you and says to you “hey, I think you have an anger problem.”?
How do you take the criticism?
I’ll tell you right now, the degree to which you are meek can be determined by how well you take criticism.
Direct Reference to
Direct Reference to
11 But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.
Jesus was quoting this verse from the Old Testament. Remember last week we said that the first 2 Beatitudes were a direct reference to ? Isn’t it awesome to see that Jesus’ teaching reinforces the Old Testament. It just shows that it all fits together. The best interpreter of the Bible is the Bible. It all holds together on it’s own. We don’t need another book to tell us what the Bible really means. It means what it says.
So, if this is where Jesus was going with the 3rd Beatitude then we need to look at the description of this meek person in and I think it gives us a good description of what the meek person looks like.
v.3) A meek person trusts in the Lord.
A meek person has found that the Lord is trustworthy. They know that the Lord can be trusted in all of their ways and in every situation that comes to them. A meek person has a settled trust that God will take care of them, no matter what comes. You can’t be meek without a firm trust in God.
v.5) A meek person commits his way to the Lord.
This word “commit” literally means to roll onto. It means that the meek person rolls their life, their troubles, their heartaches, their burdens, their unresolved questions - onto the Lord. They take those things and roll them onto the Lord. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter to “cast our cares on the Lord”. That is the same thing mentioned here. A meek person must be much in prayer and commit everything they have to the Lord in prayer.
v.7) A meek person knows how to wait for the Lord.
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him” A person who is meek is a person who knows how to wait on the Lord. How hard is it for us to be patient? Oh it’s so hard. I think immediately of my kids. My kids are so impatient, especially when something hurts. They want it to go away immediately. And I do too. But I can’t make it go away, it takes time. Now, that analogy falls short because God can take away our pain if He wants to - but many times he makes us wait because we GROW during that waiting time.
The Lord often puts His children in the waiting room of life to grow their faith. I’ve been in the waiting room, have you? I bet you have. I bet you’ve had to wait for God to open some door or fix something that was broken in your heart. It happens to all of us, but God knows where we are and He sees our hurt and He cares. He cares so much that He is willing to let us wait so that our faith will grow.
v.8) A meek person refrains from anger.
This one is important. How many people would you describe as meek that have had a raging temper that is out of control? Remember the fire, wind, and horse example earlier? If you have an angry temper that is out of control you are like that destructive fire, that uncontrollable wind, and that horse that won’t let you touch him.
While we are on that subject - let’s go to a place in James that shows us meekness as well.
Meekness in
Meekness in
I think these verses, primarily verse 19 shows us some characteristics of a meek person.
v.19) “Be quick to hear”
I’ve heard it says that you have 2 ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you speak. How many times would we benefit from just shutting up and listening better? I know it’s true in my case. I would learn so much more about someone else in a conversation if I were a better listener.
v.19) “slow to speak”
How many times have you been talking to someone and them interrupt you while you are talking? Or how about while you’re in a conversation and the other person is talking - and you’re thinking about what you’re going to say instead of listening to them speak?
We are so eager to express our opinion that we lose the benefit of slowing down and listening to someone, until it is our turn to talk. I know some people who think it’s always their turn to talk!
v.19) “slow to anger”
Here we go back to the verse in . They sound very familiar, “refrain from anger” “be slow to anger”. Oh, how often are we “quick to anger”?? It seems like the whole world, including alot of Christians are quick to anger. We are quick to be defensive and get angry with someone else, many time when we don’t even know the whole story!
Ever heard it said that someone lost their temper? Well, it’s more like they found their temper and are hitting you with it right??
Listen folks, what’s down in the well comes up in the bucket! If you have meekness residing in your heart, then that is what’s going to show. It will be patience, gentleness, humility. But if you have anger, bitterness, and rage residing in your heart - that is what will come out.
It shouldn’t ever surprise you how you react to a particular situation. Because how you react is determined long before that situation came up.
Meekness - Not something natural
Meekness - Not something natural
Now, if you’re hearing this and thinking “that sounds really difficult and unnatural to my personality” - it is! It is unnatural to us. This is not a natural tendency that we have in us, it must be cultivated over time in the Christian. We have to let God work this in us, you don’t become meek naturally. You don’t “find” meekness, it has to be developed in you.
Do you see how different this is than what the world calls us to? It’s totally opposite!
Finally - The Example of Jesus
Finally - The Example of Jesus
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:
One Final Thought - Teachable Spirit
One Final Thought - Teachable Spirit
To sum this up, I think we could say this about meekness. Meekness means that we are teachable. It means we have a teachable spirit. Coaches will say that certain players are “coachable”. It simply means that they are willing to learn and be changed by the authority over them.
As Christians, we should be teachable. Of ALL people, we should be teachable.
Because remember, we are spiritually bankrupt and we mourn over our sin. Wouldn’t you think that would make a person teachable?
How well are you letting Jesus break you of your bad habits and pride?
On a scale of 1-10 how teachable would God say that you are? Would he say that you are stubborn and prideful and uncoachable? Or would he say that you are someone He can mold more into Christ’ image.
Inherit the Earth?
Inherit the Earth?
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Matthew 2. The Beatitudes, 5:3–12
In the end it is the meek, not the self-assertive, who will have a place in God’s kingdom.
Finally - we see again here that meekness is a quality of those who enter the Kingdom.
We see that these latter parts of each Beatitude give strength for the first parts.
We don’t have to defend ourselves when we know that God is our Father and Heaven is our Home right?
We can leave our cause and our defense up to God and let Him defend us and justify us.
Let me say again in closing here - you can’t make yourself meek. It is a direct fruit of the Spirit and can only be cultivated in you by the Holy Spirit Himself.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth”