We have broken down these nine fruits of the Spirit into three groups: INWARD, OUTWARD, and GOD-WARD.
1) INWARD FRUITS consist of love, joy, and peace
2) OUTWARD FRUITS consist of longsuffering, gentleness, and goodness.
3) GOD-WARD FRUITS consist of faith, meekness, and temperance.
Today we want to focus on MEEKNESS, THE SECOND IN THE GOD-WARD GROUP.
Illus: Let me ask you a question, if you could walk into a plastic surgeon’s operating room and he had the ability to make you look like anyone you wanted to look like, who would you choose to look like?
• Some of you ladies might say to him make me to look like Sophia Loren who in her younger days is probably one of the prettiest woman who ever walk on this earth during our life time. Even today even though she is much older she still is a beautiful woman!
• Some of the men might say make me to look like Clint Walker (Cheynne) who is big and handsome and considered by some to be one of the best looking man who ever lived during our life time.
But what every Christian should be wishing…to be made TO LOOK LIKE THE LORD JESUS!
When all these fruits of the spirit are developed in our life, they make us look like Christ.
When it comes to being Christ like look at Matthew 11:29-30, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Let me show you why I say that every Christian should desire to look like Christ.
Look at these words in Matthew 11:29 again, we read, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me…”
Look at the word “Of” this is a very important word in this verse of scripture.
That is, Jesus did not say – ‘Learn about Me’; He said – ‘Learn of Me.’
Is there a difference?
Yes, knowing facts about Jesus will not change our lives to look like the life of Christ.
Knowing Christ in a real and personal way will.
That is why the Lord says LEARN OF ME!
That is, learn to live the same kind of life I lived!
HOW DIE HE LIVE?
I am meek and lowly in heart.’
The church must always keep in mind that if our Savior is meek and lowly, we need to be also as well.
If we are going to learn to live MEEK like Him we need to look at the word MEEKNESS!!!
First, let’s look at -
I. A DEFINITION OF MEEKNESS
Many have a tainted view of meekness.
One of the reason today that meekness is not a high priority in our life is because many think MEEKNESS IS WEAKNESS!!!
Illus: Years ago a man who attended Dr. O’dell Belger’s church appeared to be a very meek man.
He and his wife faithfully attended Dr. Belger’s church and everyone that knew them as a married couple knew his wife was in full control of their house. In other words SHE WAS THE BOSS!!!
Whatever she said, he would submit to doing without question.
About all that you heard from him is,
• I am sorry dear,
• You are right dear!
• Whatever you want dear!
Some who saw this man always cowering down to his wife said that he was a very meek man.
No, he was not meek man, he was a henpecked husband and did not have the courage as a man to be the man of his household.
People have different kinds of attitude in what is meekness!!!
Illus: This makes me think of a henpecked husband who was advised by a psychiatrist to assert himself in his marriage.
He told him, “You don’t have to let your wife bully you, go home and tell her you’re the boss.”
The husband decided to take the doctor’s advice.
He went home, slammed the door, shook his fist in his wife’s face let out a big growled and said, “From now on you’re taking orders from me, do you understand?”
She was shocked!!!
He went on to say, “I want my supper right now, and when you get it on the table, go upstairs and lay out my dress clothes because tonight I am going out with the boys tonight.”
She was shocked again and was gasping for breathe!!!
He was on a roll and he went on to say, “And you are going to stay at home where you belong!”
And another thing, you do not know, you know I have a hard time tying my tie...“You are going to tie my tie from here on…do you understand?
She had about all this bossing she wanted to hear and she said you are wrong about that, “I know who is going to tie your tie, the undertaker!”
The only point I want to make in this illustration is this, being henpecked is not being meek.
Illus: I heard of a hen-pecked husband who stated he goes to a woman dentist because he said, “It's a relief to be told by a woman to open his mouth instead of hearing him to shut it.”
There are a lot of hen-pecked husbands but being hen-pecked is not being meek!!!
“What is your first thought when I say ‘Meek’?"
Many think of a WEAK PERSON.
Illus: I believe it was Sir William Gurney Benham, who coined the phrase, “Meekness is not weakness.”
Remember that verse of scripture the Lord Jesus said “LEARN OF ME”
As we look at the life of Jesus we certainly do not see any WEAKNESS, WE ONLY SEE MEEKNESS!!!
Jesus describes Himself as being meek, and He did not think of it as a character flaw.
When you look at the life of Jesus, you’ll see that, while He was a meek man, He certainly was not a weak man.
• A weak man would not have stood up to the Pharisees and their abusive use of the scripture for their own selfish purposes.
• A weak man would not have gone through the Temple turning over the tables of the moneychangers, charging that they had turned God’s House into a den of thieves.
• A weak man would not have been able to walk into Jairus’ daughter’s room and see the dead girl lying there, and then turn to the mourners that were wailing and tell them to get out because He had work to do.
• A weak man would not have been able to stare down the demons of Satan as Jesus did with the Gaderene demoniac, casting them out and sending them over a cliff in a herd of swine.
• A weak man would not have been able to sustain the physical and mental and emotional abuse that Jesus took leading up to His crucifixion--being slapped and spat upon, being scourged and humiliated, being ridiculed and finally having nails driven into His hands and feet--and absorbing so much pain, He only replied, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
No, there was nothing weak about Jesus, and yet He describes Himself---and the Bible describes Him -- as being meek.
The bottom line is that many times we have a tainted understanding of what "Meekness" really is.
• Meekness is not that little boy in the playground that gets beat-up every day.
• Meekness is not the person that lets everyone take advantage and abuse them.
• Meekness is not some type of character flaw, it is quite the opposite.
The term “meek” can be defined as, “The ability to handle yourself correctly in any given situation” and really means, “to have control of yourself.”
• If you have a short temper and blow up easily, you are not under control and you are not Christ like.
• If you say or do hurtful things to others, you are out of control and you are not Christ like.
• If you are constantly bragging about yourself, you are not meek and you are not Christ like.
• If you think you are meek, you are not meek and you are not Christ like.
We have looked at A DEFINITION OF MEEKNESS. We also need to consider-
II. A DEMONSTRATION OF MEEKNESS
Jesus was the meekest man in the New Testament, but Moses was the meekest man in the Old Testament.
Look at Numbers 12:3, we read, "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth."
Notice, the Bible tells us that Moses was VERY MEEK.
Illus: Have you ever met someone that is very wealthy, but you never would have known that by the way they lived their life?
• They wear the same clothes that the common people wear
• They drive the same kind of cars the common people drive
• They live in a house about the same price level of common people
• They eat at the same restaurants as common people do
You would never know they were wealthy by their everyday lifestyle.
Illus: Have you ever met a common man that tried to give you the impression he was a wealthy man?
• They wear clothes they can’t afford
• They drive cars they can’t afford
• They live in houses they can’t afford
• They eat in restaurants they can’t afford
WHY DO PEOPLE DO THESE THINGS?
They do these things because they think HIGHLY OF THEMSELVES!
No one else may share this opinion, but that does not stop them from thinking it.
Illus: Thinking to highly of themselvese reminds me I saw a cartoon of a kitten looking into a mirror, and what the kitten saw was a big ferocious lion in the mirror.
This is the way some people see themselves.
Romans 12:3, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
When people think MORE HIGHLY than they ought to think of themselves, they can best be described as LITTLE SHOTS trying to be BIG SHOTS!
The world is full of such people.
Illus: Three Insurance salesman were sitting in a restaurant, boasting about how good they were at settling claims:
• The first one said, "When one of our insured died suddenly on Monday, I got the news that evening and was able to process the claim for the wife, and mailed him a check on Wednesday evening."
• The second one said, "When one of our insured died without warning on Monday, I learned of it in 2 hours and was able to hand-deliver a check the same evening".
• The last salesman said, "That's nothing. Our office is on the 75th floor of the Empire State building in New York. One of our insured, who was washing a window on the 85th floor, slipped and fell. I handed him his check as he passed our floor."
We live in an age when if you want to know how good someone is, you JUST ASK THEM! And if you have the time for the next hour they will tell you.
Many are more than happy to use as much time as you will give them to tell you how great they are. They are LITTLE SHOTS trying to be BIG SHOTS!
There is an old saying about people like this; “THEY ARE NOT COMFORTABLE IN THEIR OWN SKIN.”
They are always trying to be something they are not.
Moses was this way. He did not feel the need to PROMOTE HIMSELF.
We see a good example of his meekness in two situations:
(1) When the people spoke evil of Moses and his leadership abilities.
He displayed total control of himself as he stood in the gap for the very ones that had been against him. That is not WEAKNESS, it is MEEKNESS.
The meek are content pleasing God, and they allow God to PROMOTE THEM and DEFEND THEM. And God does just that!
(2) We see another example of Moses’ meekness, when Aaron and Miriam spoke ill of Moses wife and family.
God was going to bring judgment upon them.
Miriam was sick and would die, and was going to die as a leper, and what a terrible DEATH she faced.
But look how Moses, who is known for meekness, handled this situation in Numbers 12:13. He prayed; “And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.”
Moses was in control of his actions. God answered Moses’ prayer.
He allowed Miriam to suffer 7 days as a lesson not to touch the MEEK, but God answered his prayer. (Verses 14-15)
We have looked at:
• A DEFINITION OF MEEKNESS,
• A DEMONSTRATION OF MEEKNESS,
now let’s look at -
III. A DESIRE FOR MEEKNESS
If you have no desire to live a meek life like Christ, the Lord is not going to force you to live such a life.
But every child of God should have a desire to live like Christ.
When is the last time you heard a person say, “I am praying for God to help me become MEEK”?
It is a prayer that we all should be praying, because when we are full of self there is no room in our life for Jesus to be seen who is MEEK.
We live in an age when people love to boast about their greatness.
Illus: They remind me of some racehorses staying in a stable. One of them starts to boast about their track record.
• "In the last 15 races, I've won 8 of them!"
• Another horse breaks in, "Well in the last 27 races, I've won 19!!"
• "Oh that's good, but in the last 36 races, I've won 28!" says another, flicking his tail.
• I have heard all of you fellows bragging, but I can beat you all! In the last race there was twenty-horses in that race and it took 19 of them to beat me!!!
But it is not only in America that you hear a lot of bragging, it is also heard from foreigners.
Illus: I think about the Moroccan named Amir. He said:
• “You Americans are always boasting about how Paul Bunyan was the greatest lumberjack ever, but we Moroccans know that Ibrim Hassan was the world's greatest lumberjack.”
• The American said: I never heard of Ibrim Hassan. Who was he?
”
• The Moroccan replied, “He was the famous lumberjack of the Sahara Forest.”
• The American said, “Umm, don't you mean the Sahara Desert?”
• The Moroccan said, “Oh, sure, NOW it's a desert.”
There are not many folks today that are looking for MEEKNESS, they go around bragging about HOW GREAT THEY ARE!
But if we are going to be like Christ, we are going to have to allow God to produce MEEKNESS in our life.
We can not go around singing HOW GREAT HE IS if all we do is go around all the time singing, HOW GREAT I AM!
How does He do this?
Like all the fruits of the Spirit, Meekness is produced through us allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our life.
The Word of God says, in James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
Notice, God said for us to “HUMBLE OURSELVES IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD.”
If we do this, the Bible says, “HE SHALL LIFT YOU UP.”
The scripture does not say to HUMBLE OURSELVES IN THE SIGHT OF MEN. We humble ourselves before the Lord, and when we do, we will be humble in the sight of men.
Conclusion:
In Matthew 11:29-30, we read, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Are you willing to take the yoke of the Lord and learn of His meekness?
Remember, he could have come into Jerusalem riding a majestic white stallion, BUT INSTEAD, THE BIBLE SAID HE CAME RIDING A COMMON DONKEY.
When we learn to live a meek life before the Lord, the Bible says we will find a life that few ever find.
The Bible says, “…And ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The world is full of people who are giving everything they have to be something they are not.
God said to HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE HIM AND HE WILL LIFT YOU UP!
We have looked at:
I. A DEFINITION OF MEEKNESS
II. A DEMONSTRATION OF MEEKNESS
III.A DESIRE FOR MEEKNESS
