How To Face Life Challenges 2 Series

How To Face Life’s Challenges Part II

3/11/2001 New Life Psalm 46:1-11 Colossians 3:12-17

Our vision as a church includes bringing people into a right relationship with God and with each other by introducing them to Jesus Christ. Our goal is to bring new life into the lives of all people who enter this building. New life is given to us when we allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us in life’s challenging moments. The joy we seek in life comes through doing the right thing at the right time in the eyes of Jesus Christ.

Let’s imagine an impossible situation for a moment. You’ve been asking your child "is your homework done" and for six straight weeks, the child has been saying "yes." Then you get the progress report and it says, "student is in danger of failing due to lack of homework." How do you feel? You’ve been planning on going on this overnight retreat for months, but then the day before you forgot to do your chores again, and your parents have said "you cannot go." How do you feel? You know that a certain person has been talking about you behind your back, but now they really need your help. You have the power to help them or break them, what are you going to do?

Last week, we began our study on the sermon of the mount which Jesus gave while sitting on the hillside. Let’s go back to the scene in which Jesus is sitting on the mountain, and many of his disciples are sitting around him and others are standing. We pointed out last week, the sermon on the mount is not for the crowds, but for those who have made a decision to come and follow Christ. Jesus had begun his message with the Beattitudes, each one beginning with the word blessed. Blessed meant, happy, to be envied, well off and fortunate. This week we begin at the meek.

Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Often when we hear the word meek, we think of people who walk with their head down and just sort of goes along with everything. When you ask them "what do you want to do", they respond, with their heads down, "whatever you want to do is alright with me." That’s not meekness. That’s a lack of self confidence.

A good example of meekness in the bible is found when the issue of interracial marriage came up. The leader of God’s people, had chosen a woman he was very pleased to have in his life, but she was of a different race. His name was Moses and he had chosen to marry a black woman. His brother and sister became very upset with him over this issue. They even questioned whether or not God was only speaking through Moses. They were ready to challenge Moses’ leadership over this marriage, and ready to take his place.

Now Moses could have responded like some of us would have, "I’m a grown man, I’ll marry whomever I choose." He could have taken the super spiritual approach and said, "Look, I talk to God everyday. Touch not the Lord’s anointed." He could have called the people together and made accusations against his brother and sister for treason and betrayal, for questioning his leadership and relationship with God. But Moses did not do any of these things. The Scriptures tell us he was meek, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth. Moses simply turned the situation over to God, and God dealt with the situation on his behalf. Never again did this issue come up concerning his leadership or his right to have to marry someone from another race.

The word for meek is sometimes translated as gentle, humble, considerate, patient and courteous. The Greek word for meek, describes an animal which has been trained by its masters. A wild stallion may be a beautiful animal, but it’s not going to be very productive for its master until it has become trained and made meek. The key in us becoming meek is in our willingness to be teachable and open to learning alternative ways to face life’s challenges.

God is calling us to be gentle and considerate even when we have all the power on our side. Abraham was a person God had called and promised him that if he were faithful he would make him wealthy and give him a tremendous amount of land. Abraham went where God told him to go and took along his nephew Lot. God blessed Abraham greatly, and Lot was blessed too since he was with Abraham. They were so blessed, that the land could not take care of all their animals, so their servants started arguing over which animals would get to drink first and eat first.