Speaker: Ps. Christopher Chan
Date: July 18 2010

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The Beatitudes according to our society:

• Blessed are the rich for they shall be envied.
• Blessed are the powerful for they shall be feared.
• Blessed are the talented for they shall be rewarded.
• Blessed are the beautiful for they shall admired.
• Blessed are the strong for they shall be respected.

People associate happiness with success, power, confidence, and conquest.

The Beatitudes according to our Lord Jesus:

• Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Mat 5:3
• Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Mat 5:4
• Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Mat 5:5
• Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Mat 5:6

Progression in thought:

• One senses his own sinfulness (Matt. 5:3)
• Results in mourning (v. 4).
• Then he focuses on God’s holiness/ greatness, which makes him meek (v. 5).
• That in turn produces a hunger for righteousness (v. 6).

Definition of “Meekness”:

• It’s NOT weak, deficiency in spirit and courage, “Blessed are the cowardly.”
• It means “mild,” “gentle,” and “soft.”
• A meek person is gentle, tenderhearted, patient, and submissive.

The Greeks used the word to describe:

• a soothing medicine,
• a gentle breeze, or
• a domesticated colt.

True meekness is “POWER under CONTROL”

• Medicine taken in the proper dosage can be helpful, but an overdose may kill.
• A gentle breeze cools and soothes, but a hurricane kills.
• A domesticated horse is useful but an undomesticated one is wild and destructive.

Example of a MEEK person: Moses

Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Num 12:3
Yet he was the man who killed an Egyptian to protect an Israelite slave.
On behalf of God he told Pharaoh, “Let my people go” (Ex. 5:1).

When Moses came down to the camp of Israel after receiving the 10 Commandments on Mt Sinai, he saw them worshiping a golden calf and doing immoral acts. “Moses’ anger burned, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it” (Ex. 32:19-20).

Now that doesn’t sound like a meek man according to our society’s standards. But the reason Moses was so angry was that the Israelites had violated one of God’s commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3). He was defending God. When God chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Ex. 3:7-10) Moses tried to decline. He thought himself inadequate and ineloquent. He would not defend himself before God, but he would defend the Lord before anyone. That’s what meekness is all about.

Moses demonstrated his meekness:
He was slandered, personally attacked, his authority challenged yet he did not retaliate. He interceded for Miriam after she was stricken with leprosy. Num 12

LESSON #1: we do not have justify or vindicate ourselves. God will do so for us.

Lesson #2: God gives grace to those who are humble.

• All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
• Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 1Pe 5:5-6

Lesson #3: A meek person does not seek revenge.

• Rom 12:19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
• Rom 12:20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
• Rom 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.