The Sooners Vs. The Soft - Matthew 5:5 Series

Matthew 5:1-12 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying: 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you

Introduction

Jesus preached this sermon to His disciples in the hearing of a large crowd. I wonder how many people in that crowd already started walking away or at least losing interest by the time Jesus hit this third beatitude. Those people had been praying all their lives for God to send a military Messiah – not a meek Messiah. In their minds lowliness and neediness and poverty and mourning and grieving were the problem, not the solution. “Blessed are the bottom feeders” is not a popular message – then or now. In fact, I don’t know how many preachers I have heard define meekness as power under control. They say, “This word was used to describe a wild animal that has been tamed. Therefore it means power under control. It is not weakness – it is power!”

The word does not mean power under control. I will explain in a minute what it does mean, but for now I just think it is interesting that there is a desire to somehow make Jesus say, “Blessed are the powerful.” That is the message we want to hear. It is not the message Jesus preached.

Importance

What He said was…

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

How many righteous character qualities did Jesus have when He lived on earth? All of them! All of the fruit of the Spirit, and every other virtue a man could possibly have. But even though Jesus had all those characteristics, it was not often that He mentioned them directly. You do not see a lot of statements where Jesus said, “I am wise” or “I am faithful,” or “I have self-control.” But there is one virtue that He did point out.

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart

Of all the hundreds of virtues Jesus could have pointed out in His character the one He really wanted to state directly was His meekness.

Meekness is an especially delightful virtue in the eyes of God. 1 Peter 3:4 says it is of great worth in God’s sight. God loves all the virtues, but He does not say that about all of them. This one He especially loves.

It is the virtue that makes women beautiful. You know how some women are kind of attractive when you first see them – from a distance – but then the more you get to know them the less attractive they are. And there are other women who are just the opposite. The closer you get to them and the more you know them the prettier they get. There is just something about them that makes them so attractive and beautiful and desirable. 1 Peter 3 tells us what it is – it is meekness. It is a virtue that is delightful to God and attractive to men. And it is the one virtue Jesus went out of His way to point out that He had.

So what is meekness? It is crucial that we know exactly what meekness is, because we are commanded to be meek so many times. Meekness is part of the fruit of the Spirit (#8 in the list). In Ephesians 4:2 we are commanded to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord in all humility and meekness. In Colossians 3:12 we are commanded to clothe ourselves with all humility and meekness. In 1 Timothy 6:11 we are to pursue meekness. In James 3:13 we are to show our good deeds in the meekness of wisdom. So obviously it is important for us to understand what meekness is.

Gentleness

The Greek word is translated two different ways – sometimes they use the word “meek” and sometimes they use the word “gentle.” They both mean the same thing.