“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5)
Last week we continued our study of the Beatitudes by starting on the issue of meekness. The essence of meekness is absorbing a wrong or wrongs from others and returning good for it. It is not just the actions, it is of the heart, Poorness of spirit (first beatitude) is seen when we see our own sin and are convicted of our own lack of righteousness before God and so we pronounce names on ourselves. Meekness is seen when other people call us names or wrong us. We respond to our own lack of righteousness and sin by mourning before God because our sin is against God. In the same way when we respond with meekness to the sin of others (even when it wrongs us) without wanting to get revenge but by mourning for their sin because it is also sin against God.
Meekness is not something that a natural man is capable of, but it is something that belongs to the spiritual person because this is the life of Christ being worked into and then through His people. This is not being wimpy and weak; it is actually the power of God in a person. It is not just outward niceness or weakness of personality; it is the life of God through Christ being worked in and through a person. In other words, instead of responding with anger and malice, meekness responds with true love. In that sense meekness is love for those who mistreat us. Meekness is based in love for God and our neighbors. It is a fruit of the Spirit as opposed to the works of the flesh.
When attacked (real or perceived) with the words or actions of others, something will come out. What we are full of will come out. When attacked our self-love or our love for God will come out. Meekness bears injuries, forgives injuries, and returns good for injuries. It has no malice as that is mental murder. It is opposed to revenge and speaking evil. It prays for those who abuse us (Matt 5:44), feeds our enemies (Rom 12:20), returns blessing for evil (I Pet 3:9), and is the ornament of great beauty (I Pet 3:4 and Col 3:12). It is the opposite of self-will toward God and of ill-will toward men. Meekness is indeed a thing of beauty as it displays the loveliness of the character of Christ and as such it is not a work of man but is the work and life of God in the human soul.
For the rest of this newsletter we will focus on some biblical examples of true meekness. We can examine the actions of Noah during the time of building his boat (ark). The biblical accounts do not tell us exactly how long it took Noah to build the ark, but we have some dating from the text (see Genesis 5:32; 6:3; 7:6). It most likely took around 100-120 years for Noah to build the ark. Many believe that it had never rained before and so had never flooded. So while Noah was building the ark, he was most likely enduring persecution. But Noah is called “a preacher of righteousness” (II Peter 2:5). Noah is also in Hebrews 11and commended for his faith. Noah appeared to have responded to the mocking that he received by preaching righteousness. That is meekness.
We also have Moses who is called the most humble or meekest man on the earth (Numbers 12:3). In fact, he is perhaps one of the most striking examples of meekness on a continual basis. He prayed to God over and over when people grumbled against him (see Exodus 15:24 as an example). In another example of great humility and meekness the Israelites had sinned against God by making a golden calf and worshipping it. This was a great insult to Moses and his leadership, though primarily against God. God told Moses that He would make a great nation out of Moses and to let Him alone and He would destroy them. Moses responded to this by praying to God and for the sake of God’s great name he plead with God not to destroy them (Exodus 32:10-14). Moses responded to personal insult when the people did not obey his authority by praying to God for them. That is meekness.
We will skip other Old Testament figures like Abraham and his meekness toward Lot and David’s meekness toward Saul and move to the New Testament. Here we find a man named Stephen. His story, sermon, and martyrdom are all found in Acts 6:8-7:60. The text tells us that Stephen was a man that was full of grace and power (6:8). Some men from various places began to argue with him but were unable to cope with the wisdom and Spirit with which he was speaking (6:10). So they stirred up the people and the elders and brought him before the Council. Then they brought false charges of blasphemy against him. Stephen was given a chance to speak and he preached to them. He concluded with some pointed application: “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. 52 “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; 53 you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it” (Acts 7:51-53).
At this point the men were cut deeply by his words and they began gnashing their teeth at him. Stephen, however, being full of the Holy Spirit saw the glory of God and Jesus at the right hand of God. When he saw that he told them what he saw which led them to cover their ears and rush him. They then took Stephen and drove him out of the city and began stoning him. So far we have Stephen doing nothing wrong, being lied about in court, and then taken out to be unjustly and illegally stoned. What was his response? “Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:60). Stephen prayed for those that persecuted him and were killing him. He is an example of true meekness.
We can look at another example of meekness in Paul. We should also remember that it was Paul’s feet that the witnesses laid their coats as they stoned Stephen. In other words, he was in on the stoning of Stephen (possibly the ringleader) and saw Stephen’s witness when he died. “Paul said this many years after his conversion: “To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; 12 and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; 13 when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. 14 I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children” ( I Cor 4:11-13). He did all this despite the beatings and scourgings that he had received. “Giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, 4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger” (II Cor 6:3-5). Paul was meek in his persecutions because he did not want to give any cause for offense so that the ministry would not be discredited. He was an example of meekness.
The greatest example of meekness is that of Jesus. He demonstrated the quality of meekness. He was the zenith point of meekness, the great strength and spirituality of the heart. His was mildness, lowliness, a non-retaliating quality, and patience. He was these things even in the face of injustice. He had a heart that was able to rest quietly in the face of persecution and leave it all in the hands of God. He was able to pray for those that abused Him, even when they crucified Him. In fact, this is surely the example that Stephen followed when he was being stoned. He was being like Christ. He fed His enemies and those who hated Him. When Jesus fed the thousands He knew that in reality they hated Him and would turn from Him as soon as they saw who He really was. It is Christ who went to the cross and died for His enemies. All of these are the greatest examples of meekness that can be found.
“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH;
23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously” (I Peter 2:21-23).
“When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. 34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. 35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One” (Luke 23:33-35).
“Your adornment must not be merely external– braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; 4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God” (I Peter 3:3-4). This text tells us what a beautiful soul looks like. The context is that of wives, but the principle applies to all. After all, the great example of this is Christ. If Christ lives in us we will have some meekness and will be growing in it. To some degree meekness must be in the soul because it flows from a love for God and others. If there is no meekness, then Christ is not the life of that soul. Instead of being like the world in praising revenge, we should be like Christ in meekness. Only then will any soul be truly beautiful as it expresses and reflects the life and beauty of Christ in it.
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