Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Brokenness leads to mourning which, according to Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount leads to meekness. We have defined brokenness or being poor in spirit as seeing the beauty of Jesus so fully that we recognize that we possess nothing of which we can use to barter with Him for our salvation; to depend fully upon the riches of His grace to provide us with the inheritance of His kingdom. Last week we saw that seeing Jesus in this manner reveals sin, both ours and that of the world we live in. Seeing sin is not for condemnation but it is to instill mourning. It is a mourning that things are not as they should be; that sin is present and God’s glory is dimmed in the eyes of the world. It is a mourning that Jesus is not where I desire Him to be, that He lives in my heart but He is not here with us. The kindness of God is that this mourning leads to comfort, seeing God’s holiness and our sinfulness is the first step toward repentance and salvation. The comfort of salvation leads to our mourning for Jesus’ return. His return will bring forth His ultimate glory and our eternal comfort.
So, this brokenness and mourning leads to meekness, but what is that? What does it mean to be meek? The Greek word that is translated as meek means “mildness of disposition” and “gentleness of spirit”. Many modern translations have removed the word meek and just translated the word as gentle but there is more to this word than that. R.T. Kendall writes “Meekness is easier described by what it is not rather than what it is.” He goes on to write “It is the opposite of self-righteousness, arrogance, haughtiness, smugness and defensiveness. Putting it positively, meekness is unpretentiousness, gentleness, sweetness and the grace to be utterly self-effacing.” Mike Bickle very simply writes that “Meekness is to have power over selfishness.” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote “A man who is truly meek is a man who is always satisfied; he is a man who is already content.” The Bible itself doesn’t really define meekness for us but it does give two specific examples of it. Number 12:3 says that Moses was the most meek man on the face of the earth. So, we could look at the life of Moses and learn about meekness from him. But, the most important thing said about meekness in the entire Scripture is found in Matthew 11:28-30, turn there with me and let’s read together:
Jesus says “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” To be meek is to be like Jesus and to be like Jesus is to be meek. In calling us to Himself, those of us that are weary, overwhelmed, overburdened and exhausted, Jesus says “come, be yoked to me because I am meek”. His meekness is our rest, His meekness is our freedom, His meekness is a gift to us. But what is His meekness? This morning we are going to study meekness by studying Jesus, we are going to look closely at Him and see that our calling to be meek is really a calling to trust Him enough to be our yoke and our reward; our lover and our judge; our Sacrifice and our Priest; our Intercessor and our Father. “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.”