The Pilgrim's Path 3 The Meek

The Pilgrim’s Path Part-3, Mathew 5:1-12

The Meek

Introduction

The famed American inventor, statesmen, and founding father, Benjamin Franklin once said, “The sentence which has most influenced my life is, ‘Some persons grumble because God placed thorns among roses. Why not thank God because He placed roses among thorns?’ I first read it when but a mere lad. Since that day it has occupied a front room in my life and has given it an optimistic trend.”

To be meek is to have a disposition to see the roses among the thorns, rather than to complain about the thorns among the roses. Which do you see? Our answer will help us to judge whether we possess that meekness of which our Savior spoke. That is chiefly because, contrary to the common modern conception, meekness has precious little to do with weakness and everything to do with “yielded-ness.” The person who is meek is the person who, when looking around their lives, sees not the thorns among the roses but is in the constant pursuit of seeing the roses of God’s grace and tender mercies in our lives. In this life there will always be thorns.

This world is filled with sorrow, heartache, and disappointment that man brings upon himself and his fellow man. The perfect beauty of the message of Christ is that in spite of the thorns God is still in control of our lives. If we yield our lives to His control, if we trade genuine humility, penitence, and meekness for pride, our eyes will open to His perfect love in our lives.

Transition

The Webster’s Dictionary of 1828 defines the work meek this way: Mild of temper; soft; gentle; not easily provoked or irritated; yielding; given to forbearance under injuries. Now the man Moses was very meek, above all men. Numbers 12.

Appropriately, humble, in an evangelical sense; submissive to the divine will; not proud, self-sufficient or refractory; not peevish and apt to complain of divine dispensations. Christ says, “Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls.” Matthew 11. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5.” This morning, we will explore what it means to be meek in the biblical sense of the word.

Meekness, as we will see, is not the path of the week or the small, though it may sometimes take this form, meekness is primarily about yielding ones own preferences to the providence of God in our lives.

Exposition

It occurs to me that we are living in an age – in a church culture – in which most Christian churches fall basically into two categories. On the one end of this spectrum there are those churches that, in an effort to be relevant to the culture, have made so much peace with the trends and siftings of society that they have shaped themselves into its image.

On this end of the spectrum there is precious little difference between the gospel that is preached and the motivation speech which is pumped out of auditoriums during sales rallies, cooperate training seminars, or get rich quick conferences.

For the folks on this end of the spectrum, the Gospel has become little more than a vehicle of good will and though well intentioned, this is, I am afraid, little more than a parody of the true Gospel message of repentance unto salvation which leads us into a lifestyle of discipleship; becoming like Christ.

Christianity is about oh so much more than easy believism and feeling better about us, though to be sure there is a peace in knowing Christ and in being known by God. There is great joy that comes through the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer but the true and lasting joy of the believer is vastly different from what is being pumped out of so many churches today.

Peace comes from finding peace with God through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus! Hope comes from finding the assurance of Christ residing in ones very being! Happiness, lasting and complete happiness, comes from discovering the truth that no matter what we may find in this life, we are found in Christ!

To be sure, the Gospel message of repentance and salvation according to the grace of God and the gift of faith is a positive message, but it is not because at its heart it is about us, it because at its heart it is about the glorification of God in us and that, my dear friends, has the ability to change our heart.

The uplifting thing about the Christian message is that when Christ was lifted up on Calvary a means for the forgiveness of sins was secured. The encouraging thing about the Christian message is that in Christ we have been granted access to an encouragement far greater than that offered by any motivational speaker; our hearts are encouraged by the very presence of Christ within us.