Sermon preached by
Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr.
September 21, 2008

THE LIFE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR--MUST MEEK MEAN WEAK?

(Third in a series on the Beatitudes - Matthew 5:1-16)

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

Question: Are you a "meek" person?

Your immediate reaction probably is, "No, not me! In fact, I'm not interested in being meek."

Jesus said, "'Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.'"

I don't know of any more misunderstood phrase in the entire Bible. Bluntly stated, I don't want to be known as "meek." At least I don't want to be meek in the sense that most people understand the term. Meekness connotes a spineless, harmless, spiritless, effete, sissified individual. To me, a meek person is a kind of Caspar Milquetoast, a comic strip character created by Harold Webster for his comic strip The Timid Soul, which ran from 1924 through 1953. Caspar Milquetoast's name was the deliberate misspelling of the name of a bland and fairly inoffensive food, milk toast. Milk toast was light and easy to digest, therefore appropriate food for someone with a weak or a nervous stomach. From this character, the term "milquetoast" has come into general usage to mean "weak and ineffectual." When used to describe a person, it typically indicates someone of an unusually meek or submissive nature who may appear overly sensitive, timid, indecisive or cowardly.

Question: Does meek mean weak?

Actually, nothing is farther from the truth. Both the Old and New Testament put a premium on the quality of meekness. Interestingly enough, the Bible attributes this quality to its most rugged masculine characters.

What tougher individual ever lived than Moses? This man, disciplined by the blast-furnace heat of the Sinai desert, defied the Pharaoh of Egypt. Moses led the Exodus of his people from the strongest empire of that day. The Bible says, in a number of its translations such as the King James, "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all men which were upon the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3).

Take a look at Jesus. He physically drove the religious racketeers out of the temple area. He stood firm before Pontius Pilate, refusing to be cowed by the Romans. And yet He says of himself, ". . . for I am meek and lowly in heart. . ." (Matthew 11:29 KJV).

No, meekness is not indolence, flabbiness, weakness in either character or personality. This word represents one of the greatest ethical qualities toward which a person could strive. When Jesus said, "'Blessed are the meek. . . ,'" He was quoting a Jewish hero. King David had written, "But the meek shall inherit the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity" (Psalms 37:11).

It's about time that we understand what meekness really means. Is the Christian supposed to be a Caspar Milquetoast? Absolutely not! There are four basic qualities embodied in this phrase so frequently used in the Scriptures.

One is the quality of balance.

The truly meek person is one who avoids extremism.

The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, defined every virtue as residing in the middle between two extremes. On the one hand, there is the extreme of excess. You can go too far in any cause you espouse. On the other hand, there is the extreme of defect where you don't get stirred up enough about anything. In between is the happy medium. In the case of the term "meekness," Aristotle saw this quality as residing between excessive anger and excessive angerlessness.

William Barclay says the first possible translation of this beatitude is, "Blessed is the man who is always angry at the right time, and never angry at the wrong time."

You may be wondering, "You mean, a Christian can be angry?" Yes! There are times that a Christian must be angry if one is taking seriously the instructions of the Master. The wrong time for anger is when we are barking back at an insult of an injury which has been done to ourselves. The right time for anger is when we are incensed at injuries being done to other people. The Christian who is meek is the one who walks the fine line between selfish anger and anger for injuries done to other. Selfish anger is sin. Selfless anger, righteous indignation geared to providing justice for others is one of the great moral imperatives.

A second quality of meekness is humility.

True humility routs out all pride.

William Barclay gives a second translation of this beatitude. It reads, "Blessed is the man who has the humility to know his own ignorance, his own weakness, and his own need."

Clarence Jordan endeavored to demonstrate the meaning of Christ's Sermon on the Mount through his work at Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia. Jordan was a brilliant New Testament scholar, best known for The Cotton Patch Translation of the New Testament, in which Galilee becomes his native South Georgia, Jerusalem becomes Atlanta, and the language is homespun. He was deeply concerned about the sad state of economic conditions for poor farmers in South Georgia. He was also deeply concerned about the state of racial prejudice, segregation and discrimination there. With his undergraduate degree in agriculture, he believed he could make a difference in teaching poor white and black farmers how to make a significantly better living. So, instead of teaching the New Testament in a comfortable college or seminary, he became an agricultural missionary, working toward justice and reconciliation beginning in 1942, twelve years before the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that declared school segregation illegal and twenty years before the high point of the civil rights movement.

In his translation, Jordan compared the quality of meekness to those entering into education and into health.

He wrote his own beatitudes on education:

1. Blessed are they who admit they are ignorant, for theirs is learning.
2. Blessed are they who are concerned enough to enroll in school, for they shall be taught.
3. Blessed are they who submit to the teacher, for they shall inherit his wisdom.

Or looking at the area of health, Jordan wrote:

1. Blessed are they who face up to their illness, for theirs is health.
2. Blessed are they who go to the doctor, for they shall be helped.
3. Blessed are they who take his prescription, for they shall inherit the benefit of his knowledge.

Meekness captures this quality of humility, this willingness to be instructed. Too many of us are caught up in a bravado style of life. We want to call the shots ourselves. We do not want God's instruction. We do not want to follow His prescription. Therefore, we fall far short in our knowledge of Him, and we are missing spiritual health.

A third quality of meekness is self-control.

The day I graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary some 43 years ago, Anne and I purchased a little Dalmatian puppy--you know, the fireman's dog, white with black spots. Prince came from a fine kennel. His family tree was made up of champions. We could tell right from the start that he was a highly intelligent dog. But we also noticed that he was lacking in self-control. At about eight months of age, we took him to obedience school. There, along with dozens of other dogs of various breeds, we put him through his paces. The class met each week for an hour. During the first fifteen minutes of the class, Prince was the finest pupil. He learned his lessons quickly, going through his paces without a hitch. Then he would get irritated, losing control. For the rest of the class, he was obstreperous. He had no self-control.

We owned him for about a year and a half. During most of that time, he was the most delightful personality to have around our home. Then sometimes, when we least expected it, he would turn on us. Several times, he bit me. A couple of times, he bit Anne. Each time, he went almost limp with sorrow for what he had done. Finally, he lost his control one too many times. He attacked a guest in our home. It just happened to be my mother-in-law, Anne's mother, Martha Mortenson.

Prince, the handsome, well bred, intelligent Dalmatian, was lacking self-control. He was not domesticated in that he could not accept every command. His lack of control was the cause of his self-destruction. Within two hours of the time he bit my mother-in-law, he was put to sleep.

Barclay gives a third translation of this beatitude, which reads, "Blessed is the man who has every instinct, every impulse, every passion, under control. Blessed is the man who is entirely self-controlled."

A fourth quality of meekness is gentleness.

Lloyd Ogilvie translates this verse, "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth." He describes the gentle person as one who never goes off in excessive directions but is distinguished by a self-control that results from the controlling power of a greater wisdom. Gentleness is neither recklessness nor cowardice, neither brashness nor lack of boldness. In fact, the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible translates the great statement of Jesus we quoted earlier from the King James Version in the following words: "'Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light'"(Matthew 11:28-30). The very biography of Jesus illustrates this gentleness, doesn't it?

But there's an even much deeper dimension to our Lord's call to meekness when we view it in the progressive build-up of all the other beatitudes.

We've already seen that real joy comes first when we admit our spiritual poverty. You need to acknowledge your daily dependence upon Jesus Christ. Second, we saw, as Jim Birchfield shared last week, that a truly joyful person is one who has the capacity for a broken heart. You can only be truly happy when you weep for your personal sorrows, the sorrows of others, and especially mourn your own sins. The person who tries to avoid heartbreak is only avoiding real life.

As Jesus continues on with His beatitudes, we see that they are becoming increasingly difficult. It is impossible to attain His happiness in our own strength. So it is at this point that Jesus Christ calls you and me to a new capacity--that of meekness. Jesus Christ calls you to a God-controlled life. You avoid the extremes, having a balance in your existence. This life is one of humility in which you acknowledge your need for outside help. It is a life of self-control. It is a life of gentleness.

But the real thrust of this beatitude goes much deeper.

This meekness is really God-control.

Jesus is saying that your joy is proportionate to the extent that your life comes under the control of God. Sooner or later, you and I are going to be domesticated. We are going to be domesticated either by the world, with all the pressures it brings on our lives, or by God.

You are going to be influenced by the people and circumstances around you. Or your life is going to be directed in a much more authentic way by God's plan for you. To put it bluntly, you are either a slave to the world, or you are a servant to Jesus Christ.

So, the big question: Just who is in control of your life? The Apostle Paul wrote to a group of Christians living in first century Rome, the capital of a great empire. In that letter, he urged them to live God-controlled lives. Think carefully about what he wrote.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)

The Phillips Translation gives a fresh insight into a few of these words. It reads:

Don't let the world around squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good. . . .

Do you catch this? Meekness is controlled living. Your life can have balance. It can be a humble existence. It can have self-control. It can be marked by gentleness. It will have all these positive elements to the fullest, if it is a God-controlled life. Are you in God's control?

But you may be asking, "Why should a God-controlled person be so joyful? I can do a pretty good job of running my own life."

That's what you think. The ultimate in happiness comes only when your life is God-controlled.

Why should God-controlled living be so joyful?

First, if you are a God-controlled person, you have a basic understanding of the nature of humankind. A more simple way of stating this is that you know who you are.

We hear a lot of talk about liberal versus conservative ideology. We are in the middle of this most amazing presidential campaign that has dominated our attention now for well over a year. We hardly know what to expect next. But the one thing we do know is that we have the political liberals and the political conservatives. Ultimately, the two extremes are yelling at each other, using every method they can to wear each other down and get their person elected.

We also have the theological liberals and the theological conservatives. It has gone on for decades in our Presbyterian denomination, as the extremes grind away on each other in an acrimonious way.

What it really boils down to is a debate over the nature of humankind. Now, I'll admit there are varying degrees of liberalism and conservatism. There are the extremes on both sides, and there are those who gear to a more moderate position between the two. Still we have a basic ideological difference. Liberalism sees humankind as being basically good. A liberal is optimistic about how individuals and societies can be improved. If we better a person's economic position, that person can have a fuller, more positive kind of life. A conservative basically sees humankind as having a sinful, or evil, nature. A conservative tends to be pessimistic. He does not believe that the lot of humankind can be improved simply by legislation and economics.

Where do you stand in this ideological controversy? Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the nature of humankind?

Christianity answers this basic human question in a way that is enormously helpful. The Bible puts an ideological foundation under all of life, for it tells you and me all about human nature. It enables you and me to see ourselves and those around us with an insight that we could not possibly have without a God-controlled life of faith in Jesus Christ.

This discovery was revolutionary for me. And it helps me face the complexities of contemporary life with all the ideological pressures and dynamics swirling around us in this presidential election season and in this time of enormous economic upheaval.

A follower of Jesus is a conservative/liberal. Better said, we have an optimistic/pessimistic/optimistic perspective on life. Christianity is pessimistic about humankind when human beings are in control. Christianity is optimistic about the potential for humankind when God is in control. Jesus Christ gives you a basic understanding of yourself, created in the image of God--that's optimistic, fallen in sin, as all of us are--that's pessimistic, redeemed by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ--that's optimistic and full of hope.

Second, God-controlled life is a joyful life because you understand the whole movement of human history.

God created you and everything else there is in this universe. God has a basic plan for your life. He wants you to be joyful. He wants you to be fulfilled. He wants you to know an inner peace and security, which only He can give you.

Unfortunately, every single person who has ever walked the face of this earth has distorted God's plan. As we've already mentioned, you and I are guilty of sin. You and I have tried to pick up the reins of our own lives and run them ourselves. The most basic sin of all is pride. Every one of us is guilty of it. For some of us, it is quite apparent. Others of us have been much more successful in masking it from others.

God is not content to let us go ahead hell-bent in our own self-destruction. God loves you so much, He loves me so much, that He became a man in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died for your sins. He took the penalty for your sin upon himself. Jesus Christ rose from the dead, victorious over your sin. Jesus Christ, on the cross of Calvary, bore all the pessimism of which we talk. The empty tomb of Jesus Christ represents all of the optimism of the Christian faith. Christ is Victor! He has given you the potential to be released from yourself into a God-controlled kind of living.

This is what is called the plan of salvation. All you have to do is receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. Allow Him to take over your life. Jesus Christ will come again. He will provide the climax to all human history. Catch the rhythm of this? In the beginning God created. We have all fallen into sin. God broke into human history, into the life of the people of Israel, promising the Messiah. God became Man in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died for your sin. He rose from the dead. He invites you to receive himself. Jesus Christ will return to climax the whole thing. History is going somewhere!

If your life is God-controlled, you'll understand the movement of human history.

Janis Joplin died at 27 years of age. The queen of White Blues, Janis died of an overdose of heroin. Released posthumously, her last record album's final song was titled, "Get It While You Can." Catch these lyrics:

We may not be here tomorrow,
And if anybody should come along,
He gonna kill you with love and affection,
I say, get it while you can, yeh,
Get it while you can!

Janis knew no better way. She didn't understand the whole movement of human history. She didn't understand the rhythm of her own life. She was not God-controlled. She thought she had to get everything while she could, not realizing there's a whole lot of living yet to be done.

The third reason a God-controlled person is so joyful is that you know you are personally involved in God's plan.

You know you are not just an impersonal cog in an impersonal wheel. You can trust the sovereign will of God. You want God's will even when it's contrary to your own will. God has a Name. He's not just some mystical force way out there. He is Jesus Christ. God is a Person.

I remember spending quite a bit of time trying to help a precious teenager who was heavy into the drug scene. Though only 16 years of age, she had been in and out of psychiatric wards. I asked her if she believed in God. She said, "Yes, there is a Force that holds everything together." I asked her, "Does that God have a name?" She laughed when I told her He does, and His Name is Jesus Christ. This came as a shock to her. She wasn't quite certain whether or not to buy it, even though she needed strength to get on top of things. Yes, there is a God. The idea of that God being a person, alive, filling her with strength, was hard for her to comprehend. Fortunately, she believed what I and others told her about Jesus. She accepted Him as both her Savior and her Lord. Jesus Christ helped her get her life together. Today, she is a happily married woman and mother, who is daily discovering what it is to be involved in God's plan for her life. It's now 34 years since those drug escapades and her psychiatric incarcerations.

Perhaps you are in a similar situation. You need help. Jesus Christ is alive. He will give you the strength for a control that goes beyond yourself.

No, you can't live these beatitudes in your own strength. They go beyond the natural person. In fact, they run counter to every basic inclination of your life. Yet God in Christ will give you the help you need. He will transform you. He will forgive you. He will make you a new person, a God-controlled person.

Jesus said, "'Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.'" The God-controlled person is a person of strength. Meekness is great strength. The God-controlled person possesses the earth both now and in the life to come. Why? Because the extent to which you are truly God-controlled is the extent to which you will be satisfied. In the present tense, the God-controlled person is at peace with God and self. In the future, this person knows they will have a key role in the Kingdom of God.

Some of the greatest persons of all history have been meek, God-controlled persons.

Some have aspired to greatness. They've come close.

Alexander the Great marched forth as a conqueror of the then-known world. It was a lack of meekness which ruined him. In a fit of uncontrolled temper, in a drunken debauch, he hurled a spear at his best friend and killed him.

General George Patton aspired to greatness. He had visions of widespread conquests and realized many of those visions. Yet he could not control himself. A fit of uncontrolled passion caused him to lose his command. Though once again he proved his military genius, his memory will be forever marred by his lack of control.

You see, only the genuinely meek person will be content. Why? Because that person's ego is not so inflated, always wanting more. One who humbly puts their trust in Jesus Christ already has everything. No one is truly great until they are controlled by God himself. The greatest persons who ever lived are the God-controlled persons.

Dale Bruner, in his commentary on Matthew, gives this translation of this verse. It reads, "Blessings on the little people, because they will be granted the earth!"

Periodically, we see the TV reruns of the movie "Ben Hur." This movie gives insight into the times to which Jesus Christ addressed His beatitudes. Judah Ben Hur was a bitter, hardened Jewish young man. Deep was his resentment over the Roman oppression of Palestine. Betrayed into Roman slavery by his former friend, Marcellus, he slaved in the galley of a Roman troop ship. Through an unusual set of circumstances, he saved the life of a Roman consul. In turn, he received freedom and Roman citizenship. Free to forget his Jewish brothers, Ben Hur continued in his hatred of the Romans. He returned to Palestine determined to pit a Jewish force of power against the Romans. He was in every way the opposite of the person Jesus describes in this beatitude. That is, until he met Jesus Christ. It was to bitter, hardened men like Ben Hur that Jesus said, "'Blessed are the meek. . . .'" It was to the oppressed and beaten Jew that He promised the earth, if he would become a God-controlled man.

How do I conclude this message, somehow getting across this teaching of Jesus that the strongest force in this world is strength expressed in meekness?

Let me use this simple metaphor. There are two ways to destroy an iceberg. One is to try to pulverize it by the use of a gigantic force. Then you still have to deal with the pieces. Another is to move it southward, gently, into warmer waters where it will gradually dissolve.

No, the follower of Jesus is not to be a Caspar Milquetoast. You are to be a person of power in meekness who exhibits balance, humility, self-control, a gentleness and, most of all, God-control.

Must meek mean weak? Absolutely not. For understood in these terms, it becomes the greatest manifestation of strength!