SERMON OUTLINE

Blessed Are the Meek      Matthew 5.5

Introduction

The Beatitudes describe the true Christian, both in his relationship to God and in his relationship to others, and makes the promise that the true Christian will be blessed.

Meekness Is Not Weakness

-Important Christian attitude and lacking in the Church.

-Marked godly men and women throughout the Bible.

-An attitude we are to pursue. 1 Timothy 6.11

-Not valued by the world or the Church.

Meekness Is Not…

1) Natural temperament.

2) Peace-at-any-price, compromise, no convictions.

3) Only outward behavior, the practice of self-control.

Meekness Is …

1) A realistic understanding and acceptance of myself before God. Poor in spirit, mourn over sin, and need God.

2) Trust in God’s character and promises. Submission, surrender, dependence.

Meekness Looks Like …

1) Absence of pride, self-glory, self-seeking, and claim to rights. No defensive arguing and quarrelsome behavior. Humility, gratefulness, confidence and rest in God. Teachable.

2) Abandonment, submission and dependence on God. Not self-seeking but leaving the present and future with God. Entrusting myself to God.

3) Willing and able to be used of God by the Spirit.

Meekness Becomes A Reality In Us As …

1) We ask God for help.

2) Humbly accept what we really are before God.

3) Find out who we are in Christ.

4) Give ourselves completely to God and submit to Him

5) We walk in meekness.

Conclusion

The meek are blessed by being meek and will also inherit the earth and much more. Walk in meekness in the Spirit. Be humble, gentle and teachable.

SERMON NOTES

Blessed Are the Meek                             Matthew 5.5      

 -The Beatitudes describe the true Christian, both in his relationship to God and in his relationship to others, and makes the promise that the true Christian will be blessed.

 –Poor in spirit describes as blessed those who have been convicted of sin and have seen the need for God’s forgiveness. The Christian life begins with conviction of sin and God’s forgiveness. We must begin the Christian life with an understanding of our need for spiritual life in Jesus Christ.

-The Christian who mourns over sin before a Holy God is blessed with God’s comfort. We are to mourn our own sin and the effect of sin on others. We are to mourn sin’s distortion of the Glory of God. We are to mourn sin in the church and expose it. True Christians mourn over sin because they know that God is Holy. Their one desire is to be holy as He is Holy.

-The third beatitude, and the one we will be studying today, is “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”. I believe meekness is one of the most important attitudes that we are to have as Christians, and that meekness is seriously lacking and needs to be emphasized and lived out in the fellowship of the local church. All truly godly and great men and women of God have been meek. Abraham, Moses, David, Gideon, Jeremiah, Mary, Peter, Paul, James, and Jesus. A meek Christian is a beautiful and attractive Christian. A meek Christian is an approachable Christian. A meek Christian is a fruitful Christian, because of what they have learned in the process of becoming meek.

-Meekness is an attitude we are commanded to pursue and is required if we want to be blessed of God. My study of meekness this week has given me a hunger to know more about this important attitude and how it is to work in my life. I pray you will have the same hunger by the end of this service. (1 Timothy 6.11)

-The world we live in, and even many Christians, are not excited about meekness because meekness is looked upon as weakness. Meekness is opposite to what the world looks for and expects in its leaders and in people. Meekness is even frowned upon by Christians, mostly because it is not understood. Because we belong to God and live God’s way, meekness should excite us and be the way we seek to live. We are different from the world. We should think differently than the world. We should act differently than the world acts. We should be meek.

-The Jews were not looking for a meek Messiah but one with might and power, who would conquer Rome and bring freedom and usher in God’s kingdom. The Greeks did not admire meekness but manliness, assertiveness, and commanding arguments. Meek is not attractive to the world but meek is precious to God and is blessed of God.

-The Church today does not place a great deal of emphasis on meekness. We glory in powerful organizations, successful programs, political lobby groups, expensive professional productions, creative marketing. It is easy for us to focus on our own resources, industry, intelligence, ingenuity, and energy to reach the goals that we have set for success. We glory in numbers, buildings, accomplishments, achievements. We do most of this without meekness and in the end God is not glorified. What has been built will not produce eternal fruit. Likeness to Jesus Christ will not be the result. Meekness is absolutely essential to bringing Glory to God in our personal life and in the local church.

-What is meekness? Let me begin with what meekness is not.

1) Biblical meekness is not natural temperament. Some people are born mild and tender-hearted. Some people are naturally shy, and quiet, and passive, and gentle and easy-going. They are just born nice people. They may be described as meek but they are not Biblically meek.

2) Biblical meekness is not weakness. Biblical meekness is not a peace-at-any-price approach to difficulties and circumstances. Biblical meekness is not compromise with the truth of the Bible. Biblical meekness is not a lack of conviction or an unwillingness to stand up for convictions. Biblical meekness is strength and conviction under God’s control.

-Biblical meekness is often pictured as a wild horse that has been trained. Meekness is strength under control. Many of the meek men in the Bible were by temperament militant, assertive, and explosive but came under the discipline of God and submitted themselves to God’s control and God’s will.

3) Biblical meekness is not only outward behavior. Biblical meekness is more than great self-control. Biblical meekness is a heart and mind that has come under the control of God’s Spirit and then expresses meekness in action.

-So what is Biblical meekness? Biblical meekness is the result of acknowledging and accepting who I am before God, and then entrusting myself to the character and promises of God.

1) Biblical meekness is first of all the attitude and actions that come from a realistic understanding of myself as a sinner before God, who has been forgiven and accepted by God in Christ. Biblical meekness begins and grows as I see who I truly am before God and am willing to believe and accept God’s assessment of me. When I learn and agree with God that I am nothing before Him, and live in that reality, meekness can begin and grow. When I truly accept that I am not all that much better than those around me, there is hope for Biblical meekness. Meekness is seeing and accepting that I am poor in spirit and that I need God in my life.

2) Biblical meekness is secondly the attitude and actions that come from a strong trust in God’s character and promises for my life and my future. When the time comes for defending myself, for establishing my own goals, for self-advancement, for the exercise of my rights, for keeping my schedule, for having plans work out my way, Biblical meekness looks to God’s will and to God’s strength for direction and response.

-The Biblically meek know who they are before God and in Christ, and have placed their life at God’s disposal, and under God’s direction and power no matter what the cost. Meekness is living in God’s reality and under God’s control by trusting and obeying God.

-What do the meek look like?

1) There is an authentic absence of pride, self-glory, self-seeking, and claiming of rights in the meek. There is no defensive arguing and quarrelsome behavior. What we find in the meek is humility and gratefulness for what they are and have in Christ. We find gentleness, acceptance, approachability, and patience, that reflects the reality of being poor in spirit and forgiven of God. We find a confidence in God’s control over all circumstances, and a rest in God’s Love and Goodness. The meek are not fake and defensive, but humble and gentle because they know who they are before God and who they are in Christ, and are under God’s control and live in God’s strength.

–The most important characteristic of the meek is that they are teachable people. I find a teachable spirit rare in the church today. God’s people are so touchy and reactive. They are over sensitive, like a person with a major sunburn over his entire body. I generally find that Christians are unwilling to be corrected and kick back at rebuke. Whether the correction and rebuke is required and done properly is not the point. A teachable attitude is the point. This beatitude of meekness is greatly needed in the church so that we can be more teachable and grow because we are teachable.

-A man was once slandered in a London newspaper and Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher, went to his defense. At another time it was Spurgeon who was criticized in the newspaper and he made no response. Someone asked Spurgeon what he was going to do about the criticism directed toward him. He said he was going to spend time before God to see if the criticism was true and make whatever correction was needed. That is meekness with the characteristic of teachability.

2) The meek person is marked with abandonment to God, dependence on God, and submission to the will of God. Personal desires, goals, physical comfort, worldly goods, ambition, reputation, all of life and all the future is laid down at the feet of Jesus for His use and for His Glory. The meek person does not fight for position, reputation, rights, status, financial gain, but leaves his life in God’s hands. The meek person is faithful to God’s character and to God’s call and leaves the results with God, whatever the results may be.

3) Finally the meek person is willing and able to stand up for God and speak God’s words when directed by the Spirit of God, even if he stands alone, because he stands with God. The meek person does not react to circumstances and situations and trials out of temperament but by the Spirit of God, sometimes going against his natural temperament. The meek are under God’s control and live for God’s Glory.

-As people who profess to be Christians we need to be meek. We cannot produce meekness but we can walk in the Spirit and let the fruit of meekness become real in us. Let me close with some steps to this beautiful and attractive meekness in our life.

1) Ask God to help you to be meek. Ask for willingness to submit to Him. Ask for courage to face the trials needed to bring the fruit of meekness.

2) Humbly accept what you are really like as God reveals to you what you are like in His sight and in the sight of others.

3) Find out who you are in Christ and accept that perception of yourself and live from that reality.

4) Give your goals, rights, desires, plans, reputation, work, goods, life, to God. Submit to God, learn to be dependent on God, and let God work out your life. Stop working life out for yourself and by yourself. Be obedient and keep looking up.

5) Be blessed in your meekness.

-Jesus said that the meek will inherit the earth. Jesus is saying, “give yourself and all you have completely to me and you will get the earth in return”. The meek are submitted to Christ and satisfied with Christ, and in Christ have all things. The meek are blessed inwardly and will one day judge the world and be heirs of God with Christ for all eternity. The meek will inherit the earth and much more than the earth. Seek then to be meek so that you will be teachable, humble, gentle, and lovingly approachable – a powerful tool in the hands of God, reflecting the person of Christ to all around you. The joy of meekness is a reward in itself. The inheritance of the earth is just an extra bonus.