Blessitudes: Meekness

July 19, 2020                NOTES NOT EDITED
Blessitudes:  Attitudes that Elevate

Meekness
Mat. 5:5

AIM:      To encourage others to develop a strong self-image in the Lord so that they can serve in difficult situations with joy and vitality.

SIS:  The blessitude of meekness generates an internal strength fueled by an eternal relationship, independent of external factors.

One of the most flamboyant presidents ever to step into the White House was Theodore, “Teddy” Roosevelt.  He was hard as steel forged by challenges of being small and frail as a youth, and later experiencing the death of both his mother and his wife on the same day, in the same house, of different diseases.  He once beat a man into unconsciousness in a bar because the man tried to shoot him.  Teddy Roosevelt led the famous “Rough Riders” up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War, a feat many considered a suicide mission.  Before a campaign speech when Roosevelt was running for a third term as president against William Taft, a man shot him point blank in the chest.  A crumpled copy of his campaign speech somewhat deflected the bullet and Roosevelt still delivered an hour-long speech.  Then, he went to the hospital to be treated for the gunshot wound.  On one occasion, Teddy Roosevelt was bear hunting with some dignitaries in Mississippi.  The others had all shot a bear Roosevelt hadn’t even seen one.  His assistants did not want Roosevelt to be disappointed so they found a bear, tied it to a tree and then sent for Roosevelt to come and shoot it.  Roosevelt, a man of honor, would have no part in shooting a bear tied to a tree.  The story got out of Roosevelt sparing the unlucky bear.  A candy shop owner got an idea to satirize the gentleness of the former “Rough Rider.”  He created a special stuffed toy.  We call it, the “Teddy Bear.”

Roosevelt was rough and tough and everyone knew it.  His famous slogan has become an historical marker:  “Speak softly and carry a big stick!”  This slogan, and the example of Teddy Roosevelt as a both gentle and powerful is a good model of what the Bible describes as “meekness.”

We are only going to read one verse this morning.  Let’s read it together.  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Doctrines are built upon ideas and ideas are built upon words.  In order to understand the “Word of God,” we need to understand the “words God uses.”  Let’s define what we mean by, “meekness.”  Simply stated this word could be defined as, “Power under restraint.”  It fits well Roosevelt’s slogan (that he didn’t always model perfectly), “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”  That’s “meekness.”  The original word is, “praeis, praeiV.” It comes from the root word, “praus, prauV/.”  This family of words come to us via the “equine, or horse industry” of the ancient world.  One writer describes the origin of this word.  “In his work, The Art of Horsemanship, Greek author and soldier Xenophon (d. 354 BC) describes the selection and training of war horses.  The Greek army would find the wildest horses in the mountains and bring them to be broken in.  After months of training they sorted the horses into categories:  the fewest of all graduated as war horses.  When a horse passed the conditioning required for a war horse, its state was described as ‘praus,’ that is, meek. The war horse had ‘power under authority,’ ‘strength under control.’ A war horse never ceased to be determined, strong and passionate.   However, it learned to bring its nature under discipline. It gave up being wild, unruly, out of control and rebellious. It would now respond to the slightest touch of the rider, stand in the face of cannon fire, thunder into battle and stop at a whisper.  It was now, praus, or meek.” (copied, M. Warner)  You can see how this word fits the slogan of Teddy Roosevelt, “speak softly and carry a big stick.”

A horse that is “broken” refers to bringing it’s will under submission to its owner.  The innate power of the horse is still there, but now it is under restraint and control.  So it is when we surrender to God and adopt a “meek attitude.”  The power of our life is not only still there, it is magnified by our surrender to an even “Higher Power,” Yahweh.

Originally, the Greek idea for meekness had a negative connotation, much as it does today.  The Greeks despised any sense of lowliness, such as humility or meekness, they considered, “beggarly.”  Jesus intentionally chooses this word and “elevates” it to the status of a Christian virtue. 

Meekness, and its power, stems from 3 aspects.

❶ a strength that is not dependent upon anything EXTERNAL.

Take Jesus as an example once again.  Jesus said of Himself, “(Mat 8:20)  Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

Jesus is the most powerful human being to ever speak this earth, or Who will ever speak this earth, yet He had none of the “external markers” mankind commonly associates with greatness or power.  Jesus didn’t even have a “My Pillow!”  He had a rock for a pillow.

The attitude of meekness connects a person to a source of power that is infinite--eternal.  Consider that Jesus never owned a home.  He lived as an itinerant, wandering Jewish teacher.  His fame never reached further than one tiny country in His life-time.  At the end of His life, his body had been so ravaged by his enemies that the Bible says “his tongue was swollen and his [bodily] form was barely recognizable” (Isa. 52:14).  And, the defining moment in his life was in fact his death as “less than a common criminal.”  By all EXTERNAL assessments, Jesus was a colossal failure.  In fact, there was nothing by way of EXTERNAL factors throughout His life that would have spelled, “success,” as we understand it in human terms.

In regard to EXTERNAL benefits and conditions in life, do you feel less than “stellar in regard to wealth and fame?”  Is your health as challenged as your wealth? Are your burdens in life so heavy that your pillow feels like a rock at night?  Then, you are in good company, for such were the external conditions—and worse—for Our Lord. 

Jesus possessed none of the external essentials commonly associated with power: like fame or fortune. Still, He had the power to transform the world. Now, if you watch T.V. Christianity very long, you will find out that most of the “TV Preachers,” tell a very different story.  These “false prophets” and purveyors of lies teach that the real indicator that someone is a born-again, believer being blessed by God is they will be RICH AND POWERFUL.”   That’s what the T.V. Evangelist say – BUT THAT ISN’T WHAT JESUS SAID!  Someone “ain’t got the story right!” Write this down:  the world will tell you that power comes from more acquisitions.  The Word tells us that power comes from humble submission . . . to the Lord of Glory.

It is simply a lie of the Devil to say that you can always tell who is eally blessed by God by the external, worldly indicators of success. The fact of the matter is: you can absolutely blessed and anointed by God and have no outward, external signs of success – as the world counts success.

Can I give you just two quick, personal examples of “real power?” These are examples of power operating through two very ordinary, very unknown, and not very wealthy people.  A month or so ago, my son Jonathan called.  My grandson had a high fever. Jonathan is a new dad and needed expert advice so he called his Mom.  I think it was about 2:00 am our time.  Shari gave the Tylenol speech and then we said we would pray for James.  Jonathan hung up.  We prayed. Less than a minute later, Jonathan called back and said his temperature had returned to normal.  Not earth-shattering, headline news perhaps, but pretty amazing.  A couple weeks ago, Pastor Andrew travelled North with the family to visit his Dad and Mom.  I don’t remember what time it was but we got a call from Natalie.  Camilla was having a “car-seat meltdown.”  She was crying, that is screaming, so loud and long she was gagging herself.  It was miserable. Natalie asked us to pray for Camilla so they could continue the trip.  We hung up and prayed.  In less than a minute the phone rang.  Mimi stopped crying.

People want power but they look for it in external conditions and acquisitions.  Real power is spiritual power that comes when you surrender to the Lord Jesus and gain an attitude of meekness.

This brings me to another tip on developing meekness.  If it is not based on EXTERNAL conditions, the power of meekness comes

❷ through INTERNAL personal  development.

As I just mentioned: true power – the power generated by the

virtue of meekness – is NOT external stuff or situations.  Meekness, and its power, derives from “who you are, not what you have.”

(1) Meekness generates its power through self-control 

Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control.  2Pet. 1:6

The word used here in Matthew’s text originally carried the idea of “even tempered” in Classical Greek times.  For many ancient philosophers, as I said a moment ago, it was not something considered “virtuous.” Many ancients highly valued “passion.” For other philosophers, such as Aristotle, meekness, as being even tempered was seen as highly valued.  Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher said much about this meekness—or even-temperedness.  Aristotle’s primary ethical philosophy is summed up by the term, “the golden mean” or “happy medium.    Simply stated, this meant that the ancient classical Greeks highly valued self-control.  Outbursts of emotion such as anger were considered contemptuous.  Just as importantly however, Aristotle did not value the other extreme: dispassion, or timidity.  This is the primary force of the word meek: not given to fits of emotion or to excessive lack thereof—even tempered.  Meekness means being passionate to the degree that is appropriate without over-reacting. Simply, gentleness.

Meekness generates strength and power through self-control—which in Christian terms means, “Christ controlling our SELVES.”

(2) Meekness generates internal power through SELF-ESTEEM

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And THAT IS WHAT WE ARE! 1Jn. 3:1

The person that is secure in “who” they are do not need to look for validation in “what” they own.  Meek people are secure in who they are and are not driven by the need to constantly “prove” themselves to others. Popeye had good self-esteem.  His famous line was: “I y’am who I y’am and that’s all that I y’am!”   Brutus, on the other hand had low self-esteem and was constantly finding the need to “prove” his power and impress Olive oil by pulverizing Popeye.  In the end (with the help of a can of spinach), self-esteem always wins out and gets the girl.  A low-self esteem often manifests as a “brutish behavior toward others, or a need to dominate and control matters.”

Good self-esteem comes from the virtue of meekness: knowing who you really are and being comfortable with it.  This will always get the girl!  Few girls want to spend the rest of their lives with a man who has “abs of steel” but the personality of a pig—no offense to pig-lovers!  True power and performance in life is always a matter, ultimately, of what’s on the inside, not the outside.  A GENTLE-man is not someone “dispassionate and weak,” but one driven by principle instead of power. Meekness is a matter of INTERNAL strength of character.  Power is a matter of Who we belong to, not how much stuff belongs to us.

Now, all this talk of “Personal development” is just fine. But, you can develop a certain measure of self-control and self-esteem, but not develop the biblical virtue of meekness.

While meekness involves INTERNAL personal development, the real power of the virtue of meekness requires an additional element.

❸ Meekness involves an ETERNAL element, or aspect.

Look at verse 5, Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

That’s a pretty incredible promise, don’t you think. If you develop the virtue of meekness you will be able to “inherit (that is possess) the earth.” This is not talking about “pie in the sky in the sweet by and by when you die!” No, no my friend – this is talking about a nice slice of heaven right here – right now!  Let’s take that phrase apart and put it back toether. First, the meek “inherit.”

The N.T. idea folds in the O.T. idea of “inherit” as a military term that is associated with the “spoils of war.”   It carries the idea of “possessing by force.” The idea of “inheriting the earth” is the underlying theme of the entire Old Testament.  God called Abraham in order that Abraham could “inherit the land God would show him.”   Abrahams offspring ended up in bondage through rebellion and God “delivered them through Moses so they could, once again, INHERIT the land.”   The first use of the Hebrew expression for “inherit” is in Exodus 23:30:

Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. 

“Inherit” means to “take possession,” usually by military action.  It is a fundamental theme in the Old Testament.  The covenant God has with His people involves a “present blessing” as well as a “future bliss.”  A Christian doesn’t need to wait until they die to be blessed. They can “possess” and “inherit” a portion of the promise right here – right now!  The issue of “force” does not mean to take by violence. It means we are to be proactive in our building of the Kingdom of God on earth. The Lord taught us to pray (Mt 6:10),

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Notice what Jesus said the meek would inherit the “earth.” The last time I checked the “earth” was a little sphere in the here and now.  It is not something somewhere out there – it’s right here, right now.  This doesn’t promise us large stretches of real estate to add to our investment portfolio.  What this means is that the “meek will be a controlling influence in any society they are engaged in.” It means our work must be done in the “here and now.”  In other words, we will be the “salt of the earth” that preserves the moral condition of our communities allowing God’s blessing of salvation to flow to many people unhindered.

Could I say that again:  we will be the “salt of the earth” that preserves the moral condition of our communities allowing God’s blessing of salvation to flow to many people unhindered.  Here is “real” power – the power to make a difference in people’s lives.  The church should not be following our culture in this, but leading our culture through it.  Sadly, Governors like Gavin Newsom consider the church “non-essential,” and we have nobody to blame for that evaluation in the eyes of our culture but ourselves.

The early Church manifested this power.  The Early Church was “meek.”  It had little by way of “worldly power or prestige.”  In fact, it was Religio Illicit—an illegal religion.  Fledgling as it was, with little external clout, despised by the ruling powers, the Church of Jesus Christ grew from 12 men to a world-wide movement of Almighty God.  The Book of Acts describes the power of this meek band of believers:

(Acts 28:31)   Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Bold and unhindered the Church of Jesus Christ marched out from Jerusalem and into the whole world continuously for the last 2000 plus years – “unhindered!” That’s the power of the virtue of meekness: the power to change the world without any of the external amenities the world considers essential for success.  Meekness doesn’t need external amenities because it breeds an internal strength fueled by an eternal relationship.

Well, good, golly Miss Molly that bears repeatin’. Meekness doesn’t need external amenities because it breeds an internal strength fueled by an eternal relationship.

Meekness is a “blessitude” that gives us boldness and confidence through surrendering our will to the will of the Lord.  It does not decrease our power but gives us “power under restraint.”  It is not until our will is broken and surrendered to the Lord that we will truly feel the Impowering Presence of the Holy Spirit.

Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth!