Happy New Year! As in these times we often think about what we could be, what we should be, let us in faith listen to the Word of God. And this morning I’ll direct your attention to the words of our Lord in Matthew 5 – the Sermon on the Mount, and one of the famous beatitudes: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
What an encouragement, an earthy encouragement! But it will take some grace of God to allow the promise to move us. When we think about change, most of the time we are concerned only with the immediate: finances, new job, abdominals. But here the blessing is looking to the end of history: they shall inherit the earth!
Notice who is being called blessed, who will receive the earth as inheritance: The Meek.
Our first task, and nearly our only task this morning will be to uncover this word – Meekness. Who uses the work “meekness” anymore? We’ll need to try to define or describe it to enter into the blessing.
Because in English accidentally the word meek rhymes with weak, there is the feeling that meekness = weakness. Being down-and-out, being ok with incompetence, embracing poverty – this must be what Jesus was after. No.
Or we think that meekness is simply a kind of personality. Some people aren’t confrontational, they’d prefer not to speak up, they enjoy staying at home or taking quiet walks along the beach. They’re meek, right? Not necessarily.
We can also eliminate the idea that meekness is a synonym for apathy, or a type of laziness. “Whatever…” “Que sera, sera.” No.
We can’t think of meekness at all negatively for a few reasons: 1) Jesus is here recommending it. 2) Jesus claimed to possess this trait: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek…” 3) And it is the meek, we are told in Isaiah 11, who the Messiah will decide for at His coming in judgment.
So what is meekness? We’ll take a look at a few passages:
James 1:19-21
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
In this passage, meekness is the word that summarizes a certain stance toward God’s Word. The meek person has an ongoing eager receptivity toward the Bible. We say “ongoing” because with meekness we are to receive the implanted word, to keep listening to the Word that’s already within us, the seed of the Gospel that originally saved you. But even though it’s permanently implanted, you’ll need to continually tend to it, to clear out the weeds around it, to invite it to have its way.
The meek person is eagerly receptive to the Word because over time it has power to save her soul. By this phrase the Spirit points out that in this life something is happening: we are being saved. We’ve been saved from ultimate destruction but are now being saved from destructiveness. In this age we’ll never move beyond our need for saving. Because in every Christian, every ‘beloved brother,’ there lies a wickedness that occasionally bubbles up into rampant or overflowing wickedness.
And so, there’s something cyclical to meekness: directed by the Word of God the meek person continually repents of that which keeps him from hearing the Word of God. Meekness engages the powerful Word to repeatedly clear away the overgrowth of wickedness and the filth that prevents from hearing the Word – the contamination that includes impatience with learning truth, clamor, inattention, lack of seriousness– all that makes it hard to understand and walk in the truth.
Can you say this today? I’m ready in 2024 to submit to and obey the Word of God. To clear out of my life whatever the Word directs and to align myself to wherever the Word directs.
James highlights that meekness is especially vigilant against anger in all its expressions – irritability, defensiveness, grumbling, self-pity, embitterment, woundedness, outbursts, the spirit of vengeance. Both overt wrath and the hidden anger that smolders or sulks.
Instead of anger, meekness is galvanized by two complementary practices that defuse anger: Slow to speak –I need less of my expressivenessand Quick to hear – more of a stance of humility and willingness to learn. “Christ must increase; I must decrease.”
This goes against the grain. We live in an outrage culture. We’re mad at President Biden. Or those shallow liberals. Or those hypocritical Republicans. Or our parents for how they failed us. Or immigrants for taking our jobs. Or at Hollywood. Or at God. “Living our days in malice, hated by and hating one another.”
We’re angry and…we want to express that!
And then, when it’s time to consider resolutions we only want to talk about stuff like losing the love handles!
Go deeper! There is something more fundamental to be dealt with: being full of anger. Full of ourselves. Getting on our high horse. Posting our diatribes. An arrogance that wants to speak authoritatively to everything rather than first stopping to hear what God says, and then secondly dealing with the junk in ourselves.
The way of meekness is the better way. Listening, then taking ownership of what has gone wrong.
What would this meekness look like within a marriage? Instead of concentrating on how you’ve been ignored or badgered or whatever, and then lashing out in anger… let your first question be: What is marriage, according to God? And then, Ok, how am I not playing my part? And what am I doing that prevents me from remembering my part?
I’ll repeat again: A good part of meekness is taking ownership, assuming that much of the problem is with you.
And then, after self-scrutiny you discover that the problem isn’t originating in you, meekness often looks like… waiting.
Please turn to the fourth book of the Bible: Numbers 12.
Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.
2 And they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it.
3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.
4 And suddenly the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out.
5 And the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.
6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.
7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
9 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and he departed.
10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.
11 And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned.
12 Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”
13 And Moses cried to the LORD, “O God, please heal her– please.”
We know that Moses isn’t gutless, that he’s a man of action. At one time he hadn’t scrupled to kill a man. But now the sentence in v. 3 implies that the reason Moses didn’t lash out or play the martyr or wallow in self-pity was because he was very meek. What that looked like here was: he decided the thing to do was to wait for God to act.
You have another example of this in 2 Samuel 16:5-13
5 When King David came to Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera, and as he came he cursed continually.
6 And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.
7 And Shimei said as he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man!
8 The LORD has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the LORD has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”
9 Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.”
10 But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?'”
11 And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to.
12 It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing today.”
13 So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust.
There’s David, There’s Shimei. There’s Abishai. But David also sees another Person. That’s meekness: seeing God in the matter, in the stress. Somehow God is behind this. The Lord is in charge of this wretchedness. Let’s wait and see what He’ll make from this.
Lamentations 3:25-30
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;
29 let him put his mouth in the dust– there may yet be hope;
30 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.
Young people, here is a word on meekness especially for you. At some point and probably several times you’ll be passed over, slighted, ignored, un-thanked, betrayed, taken advantage of, cheated, fairly and unfairly criticized. If there is an actual injustice and you can pursue a remedy, maybe you should. But sometimes, there’s either nothing you can do about your mistreatment, or you realize that my getting all hot and bothered won’t produce anything..
Well, you could get embittered and complain and post something nasty and withdraw and ultimately leave God behind.
Or you could take it.
Yes, take it is an option. By that I mean “wait quietly.” (And parents, don’t step in and fight for Johnny.). There’s something healthy in deciding not to act and just sit under the hard situation. “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” Again, parents, don’t get in the way of that.
Here let me insert a special caution. Meekness is one of those things with which you can get to posing. I remember watching the 25th anniversary of Les Misérables. I noticed the priest in there sang like… a priest: Eyebrows up. A little smile playing around his lips. Condescending and a little smarmy. Yes folks, the world has a look for being good. Then we go try to copy that look too.
And we can do this under the idea of “meekness.” Meekness seems to bring out the fake gene: It’s tough what’s happening but I accept it. God is good. Bless the angels.
Don’t simper. Don’t avoid reality. Don’t put a wan smile on your face. Stop posing. Because meekness isn’t burying your head in the sand and saying: this isn’t really happening. Everything is good. I didn’t just get dumped. My kid didn’t cheat on the test. My colleague would never be rude and disrespectful.
These things do happen. A good part of meekness is accepting painful reality. But something more: you’re rolling everything back to God.
There is a vivid portrayal of just that in 2 Kings 18/ Isaiah 36, when the Rabshakeh, a leader in Assyria, sends Hezekiah a letter letting him know that it was just a matter of time before his nation would be pulverized by Assyria. But he can surrender, and it’ll go easy with him. Hezekiah doesn’t surrender, but neither does he shrug his shoulders as if there’s not a problem.
“Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD…”
Does your God have hands? Does He have a right arm? Can He act for you? Have you ever brought to Him an e-mail, or recounted a conversation to Him? Or brought your kids’ report card? Or your tax bill?
Meekness often doesn’t strike back – but not because it’s in a pretend world, and not because you are squeamish or chicken. But you don’t take revenge. In fact, in some situations, it’d be out of place to even protest or attempt to clear your name. So, you roll everything on to God and then wait. Which doesn’t mean that you just sit on your hands. No, you do good work, you lean into the Word of God, you make changes within yourself, and you refrain from anger and complaint. And you’ll have to do this over and over again.
But the essence of meekness – what makes it work is, as the beautiful title of that Zora Neale Hurston Book has it: “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”
We learn this best from our Lord. In the relatively few words we have about the life and ministry of Christ, there is highlighted His reliance on God’s guidance and strength. “The Son can only do what the Father shows Him.” He kept entrusting himself to God, rather than sulking or whataboutism or seeking vengeance. He was obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Walk in step with Christ’s Spirit. Come to Christ and learn this meekness from Him. There is rest here. There is a peace in turning away from anger and blaming and even self-expressiveness. There is solidity from taking responsibility. And a strength in waiting quietly for God.
In Galatians 6 we have our final call to meekness.
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of meekness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
“Restore him.” How much activity, and not apathy, is contained in that word ‘restore’! But note that Paul says we are to restore in a spirit of meekness. And this spirit of meekness involves my keeping watch on myself, left I also be tempted.
When I see someone mess up, there’s an instinct to react wildly. Perhaps angrily bark at him: how could you do this to us. Scold, and while I’m at it, point out some other problems I’ve seen.
Or… dramatically forgive him. Loudly and showily assure him that he hasn’t done anything so bad.
So I either punish him so it stings. Or ostentatiously absolve him.
When someone messes up I’m also tempted to arrive on the scene as a know-it-all. I’m shocked you would get yourself in trouble because it’s all so easy.
But the Spirit tells us: meekness. Which here implies, carefulness. Don’t throw around platitudes and scold and pious bluster and cheap forgiveness. Be measured and practical and pay attention to detail. And let’s carefully go through the all the paces of getting this life back on track.
And as part of your carefulness, remember you’re cut from the same cloth. You’re vulnerable too. Remember that simmering wickedness in all of us. So be slow to speak! Get close to the filth, put the life preserver around your brother, drag him out, and both of you get out of there asap.
Meekness isn’t interested in playing the hero, throwing around the abstract platitudes, lecturing. Rather meekness wants to fix things, really fix things so they’re fixed, and then get back on the path of righteousness.
As parents, you can mess things up by not being meek. Your kids naturally do the wrong thing. They are caught in the wrong thing. But rather than restoring them, which includes teaching and training and follow-up, you angrily scold without anything practical behind it. Your parenting philosophy might be as is so common: spoil… then get angry. But short on actual discipline and instruction.
And then you don’t approach your child with anything like sympathy; rather you treat his problem as something shocking, far beneath you. You tell him he’s wrong, but you don’t show him how to make it right.
Or we bleat high-minded words about grace and love…but we’re still not showing him specifically the way forward.
Wouldn’t it be better to approach him in a quiet spirit, and with a sense of your own fallibility, and with a confidence that God is not far off but near, and with a detailed and practical knowledge of the will of God, and always with an eye toward the power of God through His word to save souls?
In parenting, as in all endeavors, blessed are the Meek. That’s not a loud life. It’s a life heavy on taking ownership. It involves biting one’s tongue…waiting on God. It’s rather unglamorously interested in the details of the Word of God. But it’s a life that lasts…all the way up to and into the age to come, because it’s a life connected to Jesus. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
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