Sermon Central
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The Meek Series
Contributed by Mike Lewis on Feb 1, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: This beatitude is about the meek. Those who are most humble and gentle are those who will have the most power and glory in eternity as they inherit the earth.
WELCOME & INTRODUCTION
DAN THE MAN
Danny Trejo plays some of Hollywood’s toughest characters. You may have seen his mean mug in some of the most famous action movies…usually as a bad guy. Danny has been in movies like Predators, Desperado, Heat, Con Air, and most recently the Machete franchise.
He makes a great bad guy in movies because he has a look to him that makes him look nefarious. He also has a past—one of gangs and prison. But he has changed in real life. He has said, “Everything good that has happened to me has happened as a direct result of helping someone else.” What he means is that he looks for ways to help others because he wants to repay those who were kind to him to get him to where he is today. He seeks to not take credit for anything he has done but to give credit elsewhere.
In August of 2019, Danny witnessed a car accident in Los Angeles. The car had collided so greatly, that it had been overturned. He ran over to the upside-down vehicle and discovered there was a baby trapped inside in its car seat. So, Trejo tried to climb in through a broken window but he was too big to reach the seat belt. Danny and another motorist named Monica Jackson worked together from the other side of the car and were able to get the baby free.
They both downplayed their bravery and heroism. Trejo said, “The only thing that saved that little kid was his car seat. Not me.”
THE MEEK
This morning, we are moving into the next beatitude that Jesus preached. This one is not about bravery, but about where we place the credit when we do and experience good things.
Let’s read our passage from Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
THE MEEK
Meekness. The first thing about meekness we need to understand is that it does not mean weak. Meek does not mean weak. This is something I think I hear in every sermon about the meek. Every preacher makes sure to establish and explain that this does not mean that the person who is meek is weak.
Meek means someone who is anything but weak. A meek person is a gentle person. Someone who is strong in Christ. Someone with a humble strength. A person who has this meek quality has shown a surrender of themselves—that it is not about their power but about God’s power. They have surrendered their right to take credit for the things that God has done.
What we know about Jesus is that he would be considered meek. He drew attention to this aspect of himself. What did Jesus say about himself? That he is powerful and mighty? That he can take on all the people who wanted to kill him and he could wipe the floor with them? No, he spoke of his ministry to the people and said in Matthew 11:29:
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
What else was said about Jesus? The Apostle Paul spoke often of Jesus and where his preaching came from.
I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!
Paul served with the meekness and gentleness of Jesus. He wants them to know where his boldness comes from. It comes from Jesus—not Jesus’ power or strength of force, but his gentleness.
As for what Paul wanted people to seek out in the way they lived? Things like holiness, godliness, love, and gentleness.
But as for you, O man of God, flee these [evil] things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.
And for those who would be a servant in the Kingdom, gentleness and meekness are qualities you should have.
24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
We don’t attack those we disagree with and badmouth them…even those we are correcting. We do it with gentleness so that someone might repent and come to know Jesus better. We are gentle with sinners as we would want people to be gentle with us when we sin.
What does Paul say about Jesus in his life and ministry as he walked among us here on earth?
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
