PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS: RESTRAINED POWER
A. Walk up to a group of BOYS playing basketball or baseball and ask what quality each of them would like
to possess, and you’ll get answers like: “To run fast.” “To jump high.” “To be strong.”
1. Not a single one of them would answer, “I’d like to be MEEK and GENTLE.”
ILLUSTRATION:
As a kid, I always enjoyed going to my cousin Michael’s house, because he had boxes and boxes full of COMIC BOOKS?every comic book imaginable from Richie Rich to The Green Lantern. But not only did I like READING the COMICS, I liked the ADS found in the back.
For $1.00 you could buy X-RAY GLASSES to enable you to see through WALLS (you can
IMAGINE what TEENAGE BOYS thought they could do with those things).
You could buy SEA-MONKEYS?just pour this POWDER in a FISH TANK and hundreds of cute little SEA-MONKEYS would appear and build their own CITY (at least according to the AD).
My all-time favorite AD was for the CHARLES ATLAS BODY-BUILDING COURSE. Remember that AD? There’s this 97-pound weakling on the BEACH (sort of like a Barney Fife PHYSIQUE), and he’s sitting there with a GIRL and along comes a BULLY. And the BULLY PUSHES him around, KICKS SAND in his face, and GOES OFF with his GIRL. And the little
WEAKLING can’t do anything about it.
So, the AD says, “Are you tired of being pushed around? Are you tired of having sand kicked in your face? Just write to me.” And so, you could write to Charles Atlas and in 90 days you could become a MUSCLE MAN and start PUSHING BULLIES around. Charles Atlas made a lot of MONEY from that AD because he APPEALED to the MALE EGO. No REAL MAN wants to be PUSHED around!
COMMENT:
Think about this! I wonder how much MONEY we could make if we were to place an AD that said something like this (BRING UP AD), “In just 90 days, you can become a MEEK person. Are you tired of PUSHING people around? Are you tired of always WINNING the fights? Well, just write to me and in 90 days you can become MEEK and MILD.”
I doubt that we would even make enough MONEY to pay for the ADVERTISING, because most of us think that MEEKNESS is WEAKNESS and we don't want any part of it.
B. MEEKNESS is not WEAKNESS.
ILLUSTRATION:
One cold February night, a STUDENT named Paul Keating was WALKING home to his Greenwich Village apartment in New York City when he WITNESSED two armed MUGGERS robbing an OLD MAN. Keating had every reason to AVOID the problem?he DIDN’T KNOW the student, NO ONE would ever KNOW that he SAW the CRIME, he was OUTNUMBERED, and there was no PERSONAL GAIN for taking such a RISK.
Yet, despite the obvious, he ran and JUMPED on the MUGGERS. The student ESCAPED and ran for HELP. Moments later, two SHOTS rang out and the MUGGERS fled. Keating lay
DEAD.
The Mayor eulogized Keating saying, “Nobody was watching Paul Keating on the street that night. Nobody made him step forward in the time of crisis. He did it because of who he was.” His girlfriend said, “Paul wouldn’t hurt anybody. He was the MEEKEST man I know.”
1. Obviously Paul Keating’s MEEKNESS didn’t make him a COWARD.
a. In fact, ONLY the most COURAGEOUS can be MEEK.
COMMENT:
The MUGGERS certainly weren’t COURAGEOUS. They GANGED up on an INNOCENT college student. Yet, I’m sure they would BRAG about their COURAGE, their STRENGTH, their POWER to strike FEAR in those they MUG and TAKE what they want from whom they want.
Undoubtedly, they would SCOFF at the idea of MEEKNESS. “Those who are MEEK are WEAK” they would think. But the one who was indeed MEEK, Paul Keating, was COURAGEOUS enough to put his LIFE on the LINE?and, in fact, GAVE his LIFE?to save
another.
b. I wouldn’t consider Paul Keating WEAK, would you?
2. Both King David and Jesus Christ EXTOL the quality of MEEKNESS.
a. Psalm 37:11- “…the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.”
b. Matthew 5:5- “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
COMMENT:
To the world MEEKNESS means TIMIDITY, WEAKNESS, COWARDICE. That is not at all what David and Jesus mean by “MEEKNESS.”
3. Jesus is not saying, “Blessed are the COWARDS, the SPINELESS, the FEARFUL? people who
let others RUN ALL OVER THEM.”
a. “God did not give us a spirit of TIMIDITY (fear), but a spirit of POWER . . .”- 2 Timothy 1:7a.
b. MEEKNESS is a quality of STRENGTH and POWER.
c. The MEEK are POWERFUL because they won’t RUN OVER PEOPLE even if they are ABLE.
MESSAGE:
I. MEEKNESS IS POWER UNDER CONTROL?GOD’S CONTROL
A. The Greek word for “MEEK” that Jesus uses is a unique word.
1. It actually has reference to a WILD STALLION that has been TAMED.
ILLUSTRATION:
I want you to imagine a WILD STALLION. No one has ever RIDDEN him. BRIDLE and BIT have never been put on him. He’s WILD. He’s full of ENERGY and STRENGTH
and SPIRIT.
Now if you take that HORSE and TAME him, what happens? He becomes MEEK. You can put a SADDLE on him. You can put a BIT in his mouth and REINS over his neck. His
MASTER can now RIDE him.
But does that mean you’ve taken away any of that horse’s STRENGTH? Have you taken away any of that horse’s SPIRIT or his POWER? Have you taken away any of his ENERGY? NOT AT ALL! That HORSE can easily STOMP his TRAINER to DEATH if he so
DESIRES.
The only difference is, now that horse’s STRENGTH and ENERGY and SPIRIT are being CONTROLLED by his MASTER and CHANNELED for USEFUL PURPOSES. He is just as POWERFUL as he’s always been, but he has PLACED his POWER under his MASTER’S CONTROL.
2. Jesus says “HAPPY are the MEEK,” because the MEEK have PLACED all of their POWER
under their MASTER’S (God’s) CONTROL.
a. When we let God’s SPIRIT take over and produce within us an ATTITUDE of MEEKNESS, then God is able to CHANNEL all of our STRENGTH, ENERGY, SPIRIT, and POWER to do His WILL.
b. And that’s where TRUE HAPPINESS is?DOING the WILL of God.
COMMENT:
MEEKNESS produces HAPPINESS, because you’re no longer at the MERCY of your own PASSION. You can say “NO” to the SEXUAL ADVANCES of the NEW GIRL at WORK. You can tell your friend who INVITES you to a WILD NIGHT out on the TOWN:
“I’m not interested.”
You’re HAPPY because you no longer GIVE IN to the WHIM of your EMOTIONS or your ANGER. You can take an INSULT without giving one back. You can “TURN the other CHEEK” not because you’re WEAK, but because you’re STABLE and STRONG in the Lord.
You’re HAPPY because you’re FREE. FREE from having to PROVE yourself. FREE from WALKING around with a CHIP ON YOUR SHOULDER daring people to KNOCK IT OFF, because you want everyone to think you’re TOUGH. WHAT A RELIEF!!!
c. That’s POWER UNDER GOD’S CONTROL!
B. Jesus describes Himself as being “MEEK and LOWLY in heart”- Matthew 11:29b (ASV).
1. Because of this DESCRIPTION, many view Jesus as being WEAK, FRAGILE, and even
EFFEMINATE. (Many PAINTINGS and MOVIES portray Jesus this way.)
a. Jesus was MEEK, but there was not a FEARFUL BONE in His BODY.
ILLUSTRATION:
As a CARPENTER who didn’t have POWER TOOLS and built everything by HAND,
undoubtedly, He was STRONG PHYSICALLY. “He GREW in STATURE”- Luke 2:52.
He was the kind of man who engendered RESPECT, even from His ENEMIES (that can’t
be said of many MEN today).
“He single-handedly forced the MONEY CHANGERS out of the TEMPLE”- John 2:14ff.
Not only that, “Jesus had at his DISPOSAL an ARMY of ANGELS waiting to FIGHT for
Him at His COMMAND”- Matthew 26:53. (Just ONE would be plenty.)
b. Jesus was POWERFUL, and yet Peter- “When they hurled their INSULTS at Him, He did not RETALIATE; when He suffered, He made no THREATS. Instead, HE ENTRUSTED HIMSELF TO HIM WHO JUDGES JUSTLY”- 1 Peter 2:23. (It wasn’t that Jesus couldn’t retaliate and make threats, but He put His POWER UNDER GOD’S CONTROL!)
2. Jesus was MEEK, as demonstrated by His LOVE, COMPASSION, and CONCERN for people.
a. Matthew 11:28-29- “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle (MEEK) and humble in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
b. Hebrews 5:2- “He deals GENTLY with the IGNORANT and those going ASTRAY . . .”
c. Isaiah said about the promised Messiah, “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out”- Isaiah 42:3. (Applied to Jesus in Matthew 12:20)
COMMENT:
Isaiah’s passage describes the COMPASSION that Christ has for the HURTING. He doesn’t go around TRAMPLING the WEAK, the BRUISED, the FAINT-HEARTED. Jesus knows that people are FRAGILE?they can be BROKEN easily like a “BRUISED REED” and have their SPIRIT easily SNUFFED OUT like a “FLICKERING FLAME of a CANDLE.”
Instead, Jesus goes about gently STRENGTHENING the WEAK and RE-IGNITING the SPIRIT of the FAINT-HEARTED.
C. We, too, are to EMULATE the MEEKNESS of Jesus in our DEALINGS with people.
COMMENT:
Do you know someone HURTING right now? Someone who needs a FRIEND? Someone who needs to hear the words, “How are you really doing?”?
We may be STRONGER, more INFLUENTIAL, more SPIRITUAL, more POPULAR, more WEALTHY, but when we take on the MEEKNESS of Jesus we consider others “BETTER and MORE IMPORTANT than ourselves”- Philippians 2:3-4.
II. THE MEEK WILL INHERIT THE EARTH
A. Society thinks, “Not the MEEK, but the RUTHLESS and POWERFUL shall inherit the earth.”
1. We look at the TANGIBLE POWER that man possesses: his PHYSICAL STRENGTH, his WEALTH, his PRESTIGIOUS POSITION, his INTELLECT, and we think these are what ENABLE one to CONQUER FEAR and DOMINATE THE WORLD.
a. Can POWER, POSSESSIONS, or POPULARITY really ERASE our FEARS and
SECURE POSSESSION of the EARTH?
ILLUSTRATION:
If POWER could, then Joseph Stalin should have been FEARLESS. Although he himself was FEARED by many, this infamous Russian premier was AFRAID to go to BED. He had seven different BEDROOMS. Each could be LOCKED as tightly as a SAFE. In order to FOIL any would-be ASSASSINS, he SLEPT in a different one each night. Five CHAUFFEUR-DRIVEN limousines transported him wherever he went, each with curtains closed so no one would know which contained Stalin. So deep-seated was his FEAR, that he employed a SERVANT whose sole task was to MONITOR and PROTECT his TEA BAGS.
If POSSESSIONS conquered FEAR, the late billionaire Howard Hughes would have been FEARLESS. But you probably know his story. His DISTRUST of PEOPLE and his PARANOIA of GERMS led this once BRILLIANT BUSINESSMAN to Mexico, where he DIED a LONELY death as an UNDERNOURISHED HERMIT with a BELLY-LENGTH BEARD and CORKSCREW FINGERNAILS.
What about POPULARITY? Beatle John Lennon’s FAME as a SINGER, SONGWRITER, and POP ICON made him a household word. His MUSIC still RESONATES in the HEARTS of all GENERATIONS. However, this man who once said he was “more POPULAR than Jesus,” is described by his BIOGRAPHERS as a FRIGHTENED man, unwilling to SLEEP with the LIGHTS OFF and AFRAID to TOUCH anything because of its FILTH.
b. These things that many ADMIRE and earnestly SEEK AFTER, did not help those three men
CONQUER the EARTH.
2. Paul Keating CONQUERED FEAR when he JUMPED on those MUGGERS to PROTECT an
INNOCENT old man.
COMMENT:
He wasn’t FEARLESS because he thought he was so much STRONGER than they.
He wasn’t FEARLESS because he thought he was INVINCIBLE and no BULLET can KILL him.
He was FEARLESS because he was MEEK who LOVED and CARED for people. So, he just couldn’t STAND IDLY BY and watch someone get HURT without at least TRYING to do something to STOP IT.
B. Only the MEEK will INHERIT the EARTH.
1. Paul said, “everything belongs to the Christian, including the WORLD”- 1 Cor. 3:21-23.
2. Listen to David- Psalm 37:5-11 (READ and COMMENT)
COMMENT:
God’s people are the ones truly BLESSED. We may not OWN a SQUARE INCH of LAND, but we have true PEACE and JOY and WEALTH that is ours NOW to which no one else has CLAIM. And ultimately, we’ll INHERIT the “NEW EARTH” (Eternal home in Heaven) that Peter speaks of in 2 Peter 3:13.
CONCLUSION:
ILLUSTRATION:
I read recently that the EASTERN ATLANTIC SEACOAST is SINKING into the OCEAN at a rate of up to a HALF INCH each year—five inches every 10 years.
Now it’s going to take LONG TIME before the citizens of Indianapolis will be doing any DEEP-SEA FISHING off of their BACK PORCH, but it’s interesting how God keeps giving us these little REMINDERS that this PHYSICAL EARTH is not ETERNAL.
John writes, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever”- 1 John 2:17. We do the WILL of God by PLACING ourselves UNDER God’s CONTROL.
If you want to “inherit the earth” and have the BLESSED and HAPPY life NOW as well as the HOPE of a SECURE and HAPPY LIFE in HEAVEN, then let Christ RULE your HEARTS?become MEEK by giving God complete CONTROL of your LIFE.
ARE YOU WEAK OR ARE YOU MEEK?
