Meekness to Manager Matt 5:5 (Ps 37:11)
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth
The succession of the beatitudes continues with meekness. First there is a poverty of spirit: a sense of our insufficiency and nothingness, a realization or our unworthiness and profitableness. Next there is a mourning over our lost condition, sorrowing for the awfulness of our sins against God. And now we have meekness as a by-product of self-emptying and self-humiliation; in other words, there is a brokenness of will and a receptive heart before God. It is the taming of the lion, the making of the wolf to lie down as a pup (Pink).
The Way of the World
The Philosophy The world says those who are meek never become successful. So you need to assert yourself, defend your rights, stand your ground, and don’t let anyone step on you. The world thinks of strength and power, of ability, self-assurance and aggression. It says the more you assert yourself and express yourself . . . the more you manifest your powers and ability, the more likely you are to succeed . . . (Lloyd Jones) The world associates happiness with worldly possessions, and the that the way to gain them is through ability, strength, hard work, self -assurance and at times, even through self-assertion and conquest (Boice). But here Jesus says that world conquest – possession of the universe is given to the meek. To contend with enemies, to revenge affronts, to be foremost in deeds of heroism, this has exalted men to deities: but to be of a meek and yielding spirit has been deemed rather an indication of weak-ness, and a reason for contempt. Yet this is the spirit which our blessed Lord particularly commands and declares to be intimately connected with true happiness (Simeon)
The Walk in the Word
Explanation of Meekness
Defined: The Greek proas means gentle, meek, submissive, mild, soft, a soothing disposition, and free from malice and desire for revenge. Meekness is the byproduct of humbling one’s self before God -it is taming the lion not killing it. (MacArthur): The meek are those who have a spirit of gentleness and self-control; they are free from malice and a condescending spirit. They do not exploit and oppress others; they are not given to vengeance and vendettas, they are not violent, and they do not try to seize power for their own ends. (Ross).
Description:
Meekness is not indolence, niceness, a weakness in personality or character, a spirit of compromise or peace at any price. The martyrs were meek, but they were never weak; strong men; yet meek men. (Lloyd Jones). Meekness is an inward spirit of power under control. Medicine taken in the proper dosage can be helpful, but an overdose may kill; a domesticated horse is useful, but an undomesticated one is destructive; a gentle breeze cools and soothes, but a hurricane kills (Mac Arthur). There are several uses of the Greek word (Boice)
Self –Control Meekness is used of animals that have been domesticated A broken controlled beast. Animals that have learned to accept the control by their masters and therefore behave properly. It is power put under control- unbroken colt is useless, medicine that is too strong will harm rather than cure, a wind out of control destroys (Sanders). It is force and strength held in check, under strong control . . . breaking in horses with the idea of energy controlled, forces of character held firmly in hand. (MacArthur) The meek submissive Christian bears up under those trials which the stoutest of ungodly men would be unable to endure. He receives them as from the hand of God (Simeon). But also, meekness is different than broken in spirit. Broken in spirit focuses on my sinfulness. Meekness focuses on God’s Holiness. I am broken in spirit because I am a sinner. I am meek because God is so holy in comparison. (Mac Arthur).
Submission Meekness is a subservient trusting attitude before God, bowing low before God to stand before Him This text is quoted from Psalms 37, suggesting that one who is meek trusts in the Lord (v 3), delights in Him (v 4), commits his ways to the Lord (v5), and rests in Him (v 7) (Boice). The man who is meek is not sensitive about himself. He is not always watching himself and his own interest. He is not always on the defensive. The meek person no longer worries about themselves and what others say. He no longer protects himself because they see there is nothing worth protecting. (Lloyd Jones) The meek-spirited Christian says: “Let God do what he will with me, let him carve out what condition he pleases, I will submit. God sees what is best for me, whether a fertile soil or a barren. Let him order his work as he please, it suffices that God has done it. The meek are willing to let the Word bear sway in our souls and become pliable to all its laws and maxims. He is spiritually meek who conforms himself to the mind of God and does not quarrel with the instructions of the Word, but with the corruptions of his heart (Watson).: “He who is down fears no fall” There is nothing to lose. The meek person never defends himself because he knows he doesn’t deserve anything. (Gen 13:8-9) (John Bunyan). To be truly meek means we no longer protect ourselves, because we see there is nothing worth defending . . . we are finished with ourselves altogether and we see we have no rights at all. The truly meek one is amazed that God and man can think of him as they do and treat him as well as they do (Lloyd Jones)
The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather, he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is, in the sight of God, more important than angels. ... He knows well that the world will never see him as God sees him and he has stopped caring. (A. W. Tozer The Pursuit of God)
Expression of Meekness
Meekness is essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in attitude and conduct with respect to others. It is my attitude toward myself and it is an expression of that in my relationship to others (Lloyd Jones) Several evidences of meekness in relationship toward others are suggested by Jones: 1) The meek person is mild, gentle, and lowly like Christ (Matt 11:29). 2) The meek person has a complete absence of the spirit of retaliation, having their own back or seeing the that the other person pays for it. They are patient and longsuffering, especially when they suffer unjustly like Jesus (1 Peter 2:18-23). 3) The meek person is ready to listen and learn; they have such a poor idea of themselves and their own capabilities that they are ready to listen . . . they are ready to be taught by the Spirit and be led by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. They willingly surrender themselves to the Spirit. 4) The meek person has left everything – themselves, their rights, their cause, their future in the hands of God. They leave everything with God in a quietness of spirit and in the mind and heart. (Lloyd Jones).
Example of Meekness
Moses: Moses was said to be meek above all the men on the earth. He was a man of unparalleled meekness (Numbers 12:3) How many complaints did he put up? When the people of Israel murmured against him, instead of falling into a rage, he falls to prayer for them (Ex 15:24, 25). The text says, they murmured at the waters of Marah. Sure, the waters were not so bitter as the spirits of the people, but they could not provoke him to passion, but to petition (15:25). Another time when they wanted water, they complained to Moses. ‘What is this that you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children with thirst?’ (Ex 17:3). As if they had said, “If we die we will lay our death to your charge”. Would not this exasperate others? Surely it would have required the meekness of an angel to bear this, but behold Moses, meekness. He did not give them an unbecoming word! Though they were in a storm, he was in a calm. They chide, but he prays (17:4) (Watson).
Jesus: Consider the example of Jesus Christ. ‘your king comes unto you meek’ (Matt 21:5). He never defended Himself but defended the Holiness of God. Christ was the example and pattern of meekness. ‘When he was reviled, he reviled not again’ (1 Pet 2:23). His enemies’ words were more bitter than the gall they gave him, but Christ’s words were smoother than oil. He prayed and wept for his enemies (Luke 23:34). He calls us to learn of him: ‘Learn of me, for I am meek’ (Matt 11:29). (Watson). Christ does not bid us learn of him to work miracles, to open the eyes of the blind, to raise the dead, but he would have us learn of him to be meek (Augustine).
Effect of Meekness
Internal Happiness – Blessed –blissful content. There is a sense in which the meek shall inherit the earth now. For the meek man is the man who is satisfied and is therefore content. (2Cor 6:10). (Boice). The meek are able to get continual joy in their earthly portion (Ps 37:6) (Pink). Their joy is apart from their condition or circumstances. Their happiness is in their savior not their situations (Hab 3:17-19). They have entrusted everything into God’s hands and from his hands they will be entrusted with everything.
Inheritance - for they shall inherit the earth Here is a restoration to the dominant position mankind once had (Gen 1:28). Why do we seek the things of the world when we can already posses them? We will inherit everything!! When it is said the meek shall inherit the earth, it does not intimate that they shall not inherit more than the earth. They shall inherit heaven too. If they should only inherit the earth, then (Chrysostom) how could it be said, ‘Blessed are the meek’? The meek have the earth only for their sojourning-house: they have heaven for their mansion-house. (Watson).
So here we see the progression of an unbeliever’s pilgrimage to faith and the believer’s continuance in faith and sanctification. For the unbeliever, they must realize their impoverished spirit, their insufficiency and utter unworthiness before a holy God. They then must bemoan their sinful condition before God. In doing this they must willingly and humbly come before God in a lowly meek state, abandoned of self and sin, surrendered to do his will to escape their depraved condition. Here will be their hope, for a broken and contrite heart the Lord will not despise (Ps 51:17). Here will be their path to life (Ps 16:11). For a person who doesn’t come to God with a broken spirit, mourning over their sin and recognizing God’s holiness, cannot be saved. (Mac Arthur). For the believer there must be a constant awareness of our earthly condition before God. That although we have Christ, we still have nothing to bring to God, we should still mourn over residual sin and our consistent failure in our battle with sin and we should seek to live in Christlikeness in lowliness and meekness trusting his grace to abound to us.
If our focus is on Christ it will be less difficult to be meek in a proud world (Mac Arthur) No sooner does the believer’s eyes fairly open to the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, than he rejects all other modes of pardon and peace, Thus, the beggar abandons his rags, when gifted with white raiment. Thus, the shipwrecked mariner forsakes his parting raft, to be received upon some rescuing vessel. All the past, with its imperfections and its cares, is forever thrown into the shade, while the believer exults in the work of his Redeemer. (JW Alexander) This is the response of the meek on who will inherit the earth.
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