Let’s have a contest. Its a contest that will require we fully apply the highest levels of instruction in the Christian faith. In other words, this is “PhD level” righteousness, not preschool or K-12 Christianity. Its not a contest to see who can recite the most scripture from memory; nor is it a competition to see who can give more sacrificially or who makes the best chili or the coolest gingerbread house.
Here’s the contest: Lets see who can be more wronged. Lets see who can be unjustly treated the most – and go through it with the most joy. Sound fun? This was the proposal of an early church Father.
Sometime around 100AD, after the Apostles had all passed on, the next generation of church leaders came on the scene known as the early church fathers. One of them was a man named Ignatius. While being escorted to Rome for his execution by a military guard he wrote letters to various churches and met with various church leaders in the cities they passed through. One of the remarkable things he says in one of his letters I have referenced before, when he says about his soon death, “Now I am about to become a real disciple.” He didn’t consider himself a real disciple of Jesus until he had the honor of dying for his faith in Jesus.
But there is something else he said in that same letter to the Ephesians that is equally as remarkable. Let me read this section of instruction to the Ephesians on how they should be meek towards unbelievers who are hostile. Pay attention to words like “gentle,” and “patient,” and “mildness.” [READ]
“Keep on praying for others too, for there is a chance of their being converted and getting to God. Let them learn from you at least by your actions. Return their bad temper with gentleness; their boasts with humility; their abuse with prayer…Return their violence with mildness and do not be intent on getting your own back. By our patience let us…be intent on imitating the Lord, seeing which of us can be the more wronged, robbed and despised. Thus no devil’s weed will be found among you; but thoroughly pure and self-controlled, you will remain body and soul united to Jesus Christ.”
Do you see it? He says “by our patience let us be intent on imitating our Lord, seeing which of us can be the more wronged, robbed, and despised.” He’s proposing a contest where believers take up the mindset of embracing and valuing being wronged rather than fighting it and protecting themselves from it. In a way, just like he was on his way to die for Christ, he was urging them to die to themselves for Christ. You know why he urged that? Because he was like Christ, and like Christ he taught meekness.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. That is our verse today. Lets look at meek and lets look at inheriting the earth. Inheriting the earth may have to be next week.
THE MEANING OF MEEK
What is meek? The word means “mild” or “gentle.” Its a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. It refers to someone’s gentle and mild temperament. The meek person has a modest mindset where they bear injury – meaning they take the strike on the cheek and don’t strike back. It refers to someone who voluntarily accepts and submits to mistreatment, injustice or injury.
According to one definition (Outline Of Biblical Usage by Larry Pierce): Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice. Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify His elect, and that He will deliver His elect in His time (Isa 41:17, Luk 18:1-8). Gentleness or meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest. It stems from trust in God’s goodness and control over the situation. The gentle person is not occupied with self at all. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of the human will (Gal 5:23).
You’ve probably heard of it defined as “power under control” which gets the thought going but doesn’t open it up enough. A meek person is someone who has control over themselves in the face of mistreatment, which is where the biblical phrase “patient endurance” is related (Revelation 1:9). Meek is referring to someone who CHOOSES not to retaliate, or defend themselves when they could, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil” Romans 12:17 says, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for GOd’s wrath. If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty give him something to drink.” And this is the reason for meekness in verse 21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Its impossible to do that without meekness. Because meekness is self-control in the face of provocation and abuse.
Understand: meekness comes from faith – faith in two specific ways. First, its a person who knows God is in control and sovereignly brings situations into their life according to His good purpose. So it is a person who sees and trusts God’s goodness even in what evil or harm may be entering their life. They have faith that God has His reasons and they trust Him and His reasoning.
A second way a meek person is meek from faith is this: they know any evil done to them now will be repaid at judgment. They know and rely on God as a just and true Judge and that He indeed will judge all evil. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 1, “you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you…” The meek person trusts God is judge and knows also that it is God’s place to avenge and so they let go of their own revenge and retaliation and feel no need to take it into their own hands.
This is all based on faith – not fear, and not feeling weak and overpowered and dominated, and feeling like you have to retreat like a coward. This is inner strength to square up with whatever injustice is touching you with an inner confidence and calm, fully trusting yourselves and the circumstance to God.
Is this even biblical? All. Day. Long. When King David had to flee Jerusalem in humiliation because his son Absolom had revolted, there was a man named Shimei who as the king walked along the road threw stones at him, throwing dirt on him, and insulted him, “Get out you scoundrel! Get out you murderer!” And other things. When one of David’s soldiers said, “My lord, let me go over and cut off his head” David’s response was meekness to a “T.” In 2 Samuel 16:11 he explained to his soldier, “If he is cursing me because the Lord told him to then who can ask ‘Why is he doing this?’ My own son, Absolom, is trying to kill me. How much more this man. Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.” He could have had the man’s head but he submitted himself to the man’s insults instead. Meekness has been described as power under control, and we see that here. But that definition only scratches the surface of this godly virtue and behavior. David saw the suffering he was going through as from the Lord, and so he ACCEPTED it humbly, submissively. David would have been a contender in Ignatius’ contest.
But that’s not the only example. We could study Stephen’s martyrdom, or John’s “patient endurance in the faith” (Rev 1:9), or Paul’s submission to all the trials he went through, as exhaustively described in 2 Corinthians 11. But peek meekness is seen in our very own Savior. If we are to be “Christ-like” then meekness is a non-negotiable.
- When he was struck in the face at his trial he turned to the official and rather than killing him he said calmly, “If what I said is wrong then point it out but if what I said is true why do you strike me?” Peek meekness.
- Or when Pilate rebuked him and said, “Don’t you realize I have power to free you or crucify you?” Jesus said, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” In that moment Jesus’ meekness is seen in his submission to the injustice of the trial and sentencing. He could have at any moment along the way snapped his fingers and been delivered but he didn’t. Power restrained.
- Or in the garden getting arrested and he voluntarily submitted to the arrest and scolded Peter, “Put your sword away. Do you not think, Peter, that I can call on my Father in heaven and at this very moment and have 12 legions of angels to rescue me?” Peter did not understand meekness.
- But Peter learned it. In 1 Peter 2:20-25 the very same Peter who slashed back with the sword said these words….[TURN & READ]
Was Jesus weak?! Answer that question. Was Jesus weak?! Not in the least. Was Jesus meek? To perfection. So let us immediately banish the thought that meekness is weakness. Someone can act submissively out of weakness for sure, but then that would not be meek. I will show you that meekness can only be done from strength. And faith. I even want to show you that when we mistakenly see meekness as somehow being weak, it is actually proof of our own weakness – weakness in character and faith.
There is true meekness and then there is the false meekness. False meekness is cowardice masquerading as meekness. This is someone who is too afraid to stand up for themselves, or doesn’t really have any convictions and if they do they’re not willing to pay the price for taking a stand on them. This cowardice makes a person shrink back and let people “get away” with it. This is not meekness – it is cowardice. And that cowardice produces a real bitterness and self-pitying martyr-mindset in a person. People like that become critical of others because really they’re so critical of themselves for their own cowardice. So then because of their ego and pride they look for other ways to make themselves feel tough – whether its criticizing others or some macho activity and defiant attitude.
The person who thinks that this is what meekness is ends up rejecting meekness and so the only other option in their minds is to be a fighter. No one will get the upper hand on them. No one will do anything to them and get away with it. They’re no pushover or doormat for anyone.
- Like Peter, their sword is drawn in a flash, cutting off ears – they are ready to go to war and defend everything.
- They flash their anger when personally attacked, as when Paul did after being struck in the face. Wiping the blood from his lip he turned and shouted at the high priest, “You whitewashed wall – you sit there in judgment of me for breaking the law when you break the law yourself by having me struck in the face.”
- They want to be Jesus on a white warrior horse rather than Jesus gentle upon a donkey.
- They’re like John the disciple wanting to call down fire on the Samaritan town after it insulted Christ by telling him to keep passing through.
- They’re like the souls under the altar in Revelation 6 pestering God about when He will bring justice to their murderers,
- or they are like David in the imprecatory Psalms when rather than mercy for his enemies he prayed for their teeth to be shattered and their arms to be broken.
For many of us, these biblical instances are so relatable, because the last thing we want to be seen as is weak when wrong has been done to us. “No, I’m tougher than that. People can’t do that and get away with it.”
But that attitude is not meekness – it is the opposite. True meekness is not done out from a weak spine. True meekness is done from a steel spine. It requires courage – the courage to willingly accept injustice done to you when you have the option to fight against it. What did Ignatius say? “Let’s see which of us can be more wronged…” What did Paul say to the Corinthians when they kept suing each other – “WHY NOT RATHER BE WRONGED? WHY NOT RATHER BE CHEATED?” They were going all “warrior” on each other they were completely defeated.
Nothing will spoil your faith and your personal character more, and your progress, than engaging in “You did this to me so I’m going to do this to you” kind of mindsets. Some of you have your faith spoiled because of this mentality.
The bible talks about meekness in the face of serious injustice: physical assault, confiscated property, shut out economically, killed. How much more should we readily accept being fired from jobs, deprived of promotions, rejected, having property taken from you, jailed, hated and despised by culture or even your own family, beat up, attacked, even death. What do we do in the face of these things?
APPLICATION: The mere fact of going through such sufferings is one thing. It does not mean that we are meek. Meek describes HOW we go through such things. Do we bitterly withdraw, drown in self-pity, question God’s goodness, become critical and self-righteous? Or do we become more humble, more trusting in God, more soft in heart, more ready to see Christ’s appearing, more holy, more prayerful?
Maybe we don’t face those just yet. So are we meek in smaller everyday provocations so that we are practicing meekness for when bigger sacrifices are brought our way by the Lord? In other words, if we’re meek in the small things won’t we be meek in the big things? Are we meek with someone who cuts us off on the road, or cuts in front of us in line, or someone who has a critical or pushy personality, or when we’re overlooked, or when someone says something we don’t like or in a way we don’t like. Are we meek? Or are we the “Oh, no you won’t be treating me that way and getting away with it” type? Are we finding ourselves always doing those subtle macho brags: “I told him off,” or “I put her in her place,” or “they have no idea who they’re messing with,” or “You can’t push me around and think I’m going to just take it.”
APPLICATION: Forgiveness is peak meekness. Unforgiveness is peak un-meekness. I will have my revenge. I will make you to feel what you did. I will get you back. These are all anti-meekness
The person who will have the most trouble with this teaching is the person who does not believe in the judgment of God, who is confused about the purpose of this life, whose faith is more for their politics than the actual mission of the church, who is filled with fear and insecurity. Let me explain. If you think meek means you have to feel and act timidly and in fear, and that its done out of being too weak to stand up for yourself or demand your rights, or that you’d be a pushover and a doormat, or that you have to have no convictions – then you don’t understand meekness. Ultimately its your own fear of feeling weak and being seen as weak that makes you reject meekness. In your fear of feeling weak and being seen as weak you mistakenly think that by fighting, defending yourself, and going to war it makes you strong. But meekness is pure strength and courage
CONCLUSION: The Meekness of Christ
Jesus could not have gone to the cross without being meek. Our great salvation depended on the meekness of Jesus. Isaiah 53 described him this way, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before it sshearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” That was not out of a loss of control or being too weak to resist. It was out of a voluntary submission to the treatment appointed for him. Unless he willingly subjected himself to his enemies he never would have been crucified, “No one takes my life from me,” he said, “but I lay it down on my own authority.” And if he were never crucified we would never be saved.
Jesus has something for you at the cross. And only at the cross. At the cross he has forgiveness and eternal life for you. And unless you go to the cross, and see how he took your sins there at the cross, and at the cross believe on His name, you will never see eternal life. You have to go to the cross the same way Jesus did: humbly. He lowered himself to be lifted up on that cross. Go there to lower your pride, and humble yourself, and confess your sins. And he will lift you up to life.