What is Meekness

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Oh, I would just really love to open it up. What do you have to say for the Lord? What has He done for you? It just stirred something inside of me during Sunday school. [00:00:33] How much do we speak out for the Lord? Do we have anything to say? I can talk all day about cows. I have an interest in cows. I ask the stupidest questions about cows. Ask LaVon. Why ain't I afraid of asking stupid questions when it comes to cows? But when it comes to the Bible, I don't want to open my mouth. I'm afraid I'm going to say something and make myself look stupid. [00:01:07] Does he mean anything to me? What does he mean to you? What does the Bible mean to you? There's a lot of things I could talk about, but I'll try and keep it. To meekness this morning. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. I won't be focusing so much on the blessing part of it. But what is meekness? I got a text this morning. I was going to talk on meekness two weeks ago. And I got a text this morning that asked me, do I understand meekness more than I did two weeks ago? [00:01:50] I said nope. Not funny. Meekness. Boy, what is meekness? It's a good, I would love to hear a discussion on it sometime. We know that meekness is a fruit of the Spirit according to Galatians 5. I have a lot of definitions, and within those definitions I needed to look up definitions. [00:02:30] But it's a very, it's a tough subject for me, because I'm not sure if I'm meek. I'm talking about humility, another tough subject. But let's look at meekness. What is meekness? some definitions according to Webster mild of temper and I had to when I'm going down through these definitions I hope that [00:03:01] our hearts can be open and that we can look at ourselves it's really easy for me to say Justin's not meek I didn't really think of that so and so is not meek, well that's not them mild of temper, well that's not so and so let's look at ourselves that's what it means to Brad's prayer was that our hearts could be open let's have open hearts and look at ourselves this morning [00:03:32] the other thing I wanted to look at was before I go too far is look at the life of Christ Christ and how He was meek. So as I go down through definitions, look at Christ and let's look at ourselves. Mild of temper, soft, gentle, not easily provoked or irritated, [00:04:07] yielding, humble, submissive to God's will, So, not proud, not self-sufficient, not refractory. What's that? Anybody else know what refractory is? I didn't know what that was. Well, refractory, this is what we are not to be, refractory. Refractory is perverse in opposition. What does perverse mean? [00:04:37] Perverse would be the same as stubborn. Stubborn in opposition or stubborn in disobedience. Stubborn in noncompliance. I will not comply. Refractory is unmanageable, unyielding. Probably most of us, if we are at a horse show or horse auction, and there was a horse come up for sale and he's bucking around and you can't really hold him down [00:05:11] and he's rearing up like the black stallion. He's just wild. Nobody in here would want to buy him except Willis probably for the challenge of taming this thing down, you know. He's not useful. He's unmanageable. You ain't going to hitch him up to a buggy, give him to your wife and take her to town, you know. You can't hook them to a plow. He's refractory. The other definition of refractory, and this was interesting, is metals difficult to fuse, not easily yielding to the force of heat. [00:05:54] And I had to think, when the heat's turned up, how do we respond? When the heat is turned up, how do you respond? When times are tough, how do we respond? I believe with all my heart that God allows the heat to be turned up. And we need to be yielding. What is God trying to teach us? What does God want us to learn? [00:06:27] That's the hardest thing. Romans 8.28 For all things work together for good. When it gets to be rough, do we really believe that? Not proud, not self-sufficient, not refractory, not peevish and apt to complain of God's will. What does peevish mean? I had never heard that word in all my life. Peevish means to be fretful, apt to complain and mutter, easily vexed, quarrelous, hard to please [00:07:07] We are not to be peevish Meekness is the submissive attitude of one who has totally given themselves up to God and others Meekness is patience when someone says or does something hurtful. Meekness is a calm temper of mind, we already said a little bit to that, which is not easily provoked. Meekness is yieldedness, we're giving up our powers, our strength, our abilities, our rights. [00:07:49] Do we really have to give up our rights? Do we have any rights? You know, why do we, sometimes it feels like, I had to think of when my children were playing with other children when they were younger or watching them in a baseball game and they got called out at second. They were definitely safe. I know they were safe. It was clear. What, you don't go, you don't take my child off the baseball, you steal third? [00:08:20] All this fussing. My child wasn't treated right. That happened, you know. But our rights. I had to think of a child. If you're looking, watching children play, and a child comes up and takes a toy car from Nicholas. Brady comes up and takes a car from Nicholas. And Nicholas, he just watches him walk away. [00:08:52] Kind of wondering what the world was that all about. He turns around and gets another toy. Maybe he gets a purse to play with or something. We would say, oh, Nicholas. But what if Nicholas would take off after Brady and just throw Brady down? You know what I mean. Just be mad and fight back. We wouldn't think that was so, it's not the right thing to do. Or would we, or do we as parents stick up for our children and say, hey, you give that back. [00:09:25] Or do we teach them meekness? In Romans 12, verse 19, well, first of all, meekness is being hurt by others with a belief that God will vindicate us in His time. Romans 12 verse 19 says, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. [00:10:02] How many times do we try and take God's place? How many times do we try and get back to somebody? God has promised that He would take care of that for us. And sometimes I think that when we try to fight back or we get even, we're just trying to take God's place. That is not meekness. Meekness produces peace within. [00:10:36] It is proof of true greatness of soul. Meekness comes from a heart that is too great to be moved by little insults. You know, I was talking to my wife this morning. Where do you take that? Okay, words do hurt us, don't they? Somebody says something mean about you, that hurts. Don't they, Cindy? What in the world? People are going to say something mean about me or my family. They hurt. [00:11:07] But when we are, and I'm not sure what to do with all that. I tried to think it through this morning. But I had to think of Paul and think of Jesus. They were definitely hurt emotionally, weren't they? But they were meek. They didn't fight back. [00:11:45] But when we are constantly and easily ruffled, when we're constantly just, something gets under our skin pretty easy. When one who is hurt by every little insult or injury to throw off our guard, you know, it really throws us off. When little things can hurt us, you know it raises up like an angry sea or a big storm within us, makes us mad, makes us angry. [00:12:20] Well we are just like that angry sea, we're tossed around, there's no rest, there's no peace. It's pretty easy for us in our pride to just wallow around in self-pity. Before we go into some examples, I wanted to look at some verses. [00:12:52] There's quite a few of them here. And as we go through them, look for the blessings for meekness. There's quite a few of them in Zephaniah 2, verse 3. It says, Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. [00:13:23] In New King James it says humility. Seek meekness. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. So we are to seek meekness. What is it? Pursue it. In Colossians chapter 3 it says we are to put it on. In James chapter 1 verse 21 it says that we are to receive the Word of God with meekness. In chapter 3 of James, it says we are to exhibit meekness in our conduct. [00:14:01] Titus chapter 3, it says we're to show meekness to all men. In 1 Peter chapter 3, 4. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a meek or gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. [00:14:43] Galatians 6.1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken and need a trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourselves, lest you also be tempted. Isaiah 29, verse 19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord. [00:15:20] You know, it's not what you would think of. How can there be joy when we lower ourselves or when we are meek? By the way, what's the difference between meekness and humility? Does anybody know? If you ever have something to say afterwards, let me know. What do you think it is? What's the difference? You know, if you go through, there's a lot of verses in the Bible where King James and New King James, [00:15:52] it's translated one, the other, goes back and forth. But I like to think of meekness in action. Meekness is humility in action. You're not just sitting there humble. It's when you actually have to do meekness or do humility. It's meekness. I don't know how to say all that. But there is joy in meekness. All the more reason to pursue it, to seek it. [00:16:24] I want to look at the life of Christ. Why don't you turn with me to Isaiah chapter 53. Read verses 1-7 Isaiah 53 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. [00:16:57] He has no form or comeliness. And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteem him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. [00:17:28] But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him And by his stripes we were healed, all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all And then verse 7, he was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. [00:18:07] What an example. Is that me today? Something don't go right. Somebody steps on my toes. Somebody cuts me off. And there's so many examples or things we could talk about. Also, I want to go to 1 Peter 2, verse 19. 1 Peter 2, verse 19. [00:18:46] For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. for what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently so you have a fault and you're beaten so what if you take it patiently because it's your fault but when you do good and suffer if you take it patiently this is commendable before God for to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us [00:19:19] leaving us an example that you should follow his steps who committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth who when he was reviled did not revile in return when he suffered he did not threaten but committed himself to him who judges righteously who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. [00:19:54] For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of our souls. Talking about Christ again. And then in Matthew 26. Verses 47, Matthew 26, 47 to 54 [00:20:41] And while he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now his betrayer had given them a sign saying, Whomsoever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him. Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, Greetings, Rabbi, and kissed him. But Jesus said to him, Friend, why have you come? Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him. And suddenly one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand, drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. [00:21:16] But Jesus said to him, Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus? And then we look at the Sermon on the Mount back in chapter 5, verse 38. [00:21:51] And I'm not sure why, but for some reason I never saw, I never realized or never thought about it or I never put the two together that nonresistance is meekness. I never thought about that before. Maybe there's more to meekness than what I'm talking about here this morning. Verse 38, You have heard that it was said, [00:22:24] An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you not to resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, Let him have your cloak also, and whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, [00:22:58] and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore, you shall be perfect [00:23:30] just as your Father in heaven is perfect. So, maybe you always wondered, how can I be perfect? There it tells you. Verse 48, Therefore, because of all that, you shall be perfect. This is Jesus' teaching for us to live. Not just to know, but to live. [00:24:02] and all the little things in life that come up that stir us, make us angry. When anger flares up, it should be a sign or a red flag. Hey, what's going on in my life? We also look at Stephen and Acts. We won't turn there. But we know how he was stoned. What did he do wrong? You didn't do nothing wrong. And yet in his last prayer, Lord, don't hold this against them. Don't charge this to them. And I can't imagine, what if somebody was stoned in your family before your eyes? And that would be your prayer. Let alone ourselves. [00:24:51] You know, I just can't, to put ourselves into persecution, well, it would be easier because we know that they would be persecuting us because we love Jesus. But today we're persecuted sometimes or we're just made fun of and we're insulted and maybe little things are said. What about those things that are said in church? Maybe we overhear and it just gets under our skin. [00:25:22] And we hold it against them. Is that harder to forgive? Or is it harder to be meek in those situations than if somebody is stoning us? Or we're being persecuted for our faith? What does it really mean to be meek? What was Jesus trying to tell us here? I think He's trying to tell us exactly what it's saying here. [00:26:00] Moses was very meek. I wanted to look at that more these last two weeks. I got it done a little bit. What made him meek? It's still a question of mine. Paul was meek, no man endured more and more patiently according to 1 Corinthians chapter 4 being reviled we bless, this is what he said being reviled we bless, being persecuted we suffer it and yet in their sufferings, I don't think we saw them get angry easily [00:26:37] I had to think of the rough times the economy is bringing us through, you know, and it's pretty easy, at least for me too, to get all worked up about, I didn't lose my job but work's kind of slow, but when we can get all worked up about and not as much work. [00:27:14] Maybe you have investments in this or my property's not worth as much. There's a lot of things we can get worked up about. My cows aren't given as much. I'm not sure what that has to do with the economy. You know, who's in control of all that? Who's in control of how much Levon's cows make? Who's in control of the economy? Who says what happens? Who says what happens if we have a bunch of money invested in something and it goes down? Or whether we have a job or not? [00:27:45] Who's in control of all that? For some reason, God's blessing us here in America. We've had plenty. We still do have plenty. But when things go wrong, who do we look to and who do we depend on? and when people say a little something wrong, it's pretty easy to allow ourselves to, allow the anger within us to flare up. [00:28:25] It's pretty easy to, if you look at Paul and Silas, they bore all of that patiently. They didn't harbor any malice. They didn't hold anything within them. They did not press for their rights. They didn't trample down other people's rights so that they could make sure that their rights, they got their rights. [00:29:04] But especially I want to go back to the Beatitudes. And in closing, I want us to remember where we started out at. In verse 3, we started out as poor in spirit. And watch the progression. This is kind of leading into my next sermon, [00:29:37] which is blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. But let's look at the progression. Blessed are the poor in spirit. We talked about humility. And I would like to look at the Beatitudes here as like stepping stones or like we're climbing a mountain. And there are eight steps to a divine life, or eight steps to growing in Christ. [00:30:19] First of all, we need to be poor in spirit. We need to humble ourselves, see our need for Christ, come to Christ. Then we will mourn for our sin, which will produce meekness. And when we are totally emptied of ourselves, we empty ourselves of ourselves, I like to think of. We are meek. We give in to God's divine will. If God's will is it that we lose our jobs, we give in to that. [00:30:51] And if somebody else's will is to come in and steal your car, hey. But that's great because we have insurance and we'll take care of ourselves. You know what I mean. We're meek and when we are totally emptied of ourselves, of ourselves that produces a hunger and a thirsting for righteousness. So I think in all of this studying of meekness [00:31:22] and trying to understand it better and trying to grasp it, It really made me focus on Jesus Christ and His life and how He lived. And yet it seems so impossible to live that way. Maybe you guys don't find it so. Is it easy to live the Sermon on the Mount? Is it easy to follow Christ? You can't do it. You cannot do it on your own. Key word. You can't do it without Christ. [00:31:52] You can't do it without His power and His leading and His Holy Spirit. And so, my prayer is for myself, for all of us, my children, that we can keep our eyes focused on Christ, depending totally on him. Let's pray. Bow our heads for prayer. Lord, I thank You for Your Word again this morning. I thank You for Your Holy Spirit, Lord. I pray that You would continue to teach us, [00:32:26] help us to live a lifestyle of worship and a lifestyle of seeking after You. Lord, help us to know how to follow You. I pray, Lord, that You would help us to be strong. Lord give us strength to obey your word no matter what, no matter if people make fun, no matter if people degrade us and push us in the dirt, make us little. [00:32:57] Lord I pray that you would help us to remember that you will exalt us. but Lord I pray that you would help us to learn of you as you say in Matthew chapter 11 Lord you said that you are meek and lowly and that you will give us rest unto our souls if we just follow you and we trust in you so Lord I pray you would go with us today in Jesus name, Amen