Meekness: Strength Under Control in God's Kingdom

Devotional

Day 1: Strength Under Control

Meekness is often misunderstood as weakness, but it is actually strength under control. It is like a wild horse that, once tamed, becomes dignified and purposeful. This controlled strength allows us to bring order to the chaos within our souls, making us more useful in God's kingdom. By submitting to God's will, our strength becomes purposeful and directed, enabling us to live a life that reflects His character. [02:27]

"Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city." (Proverbs 16:32, ESV)

Reflection: In what areas of your life do you need to exercise strength under control, and how can you submit these areas to God's will today?

Day 2: The Journey to Meekness

The progression of the Beatitudes begins with recognizing our spiritual poverty, leading to mourning over sin, and culminating in meekness. This journey helps us extend grace to others as we understand our own need for forgiveness. By acknowledging our spiritual poverty, we come before God empty-handed, which leads us to grieve over our sins and the cost they have exacted on ourselves, others, and Christ. As we repent, meekness becomes attainable, allowing us to extend grace to others. [07:41]

"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.'" (Isaiah 57:15, ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on a recent moment when you recognized your spiritual poverty. How did it lead you to extend grace to someone else?

Day 3: Meekness in Action

Meekness should characterize our teaching, witnessing, and confrontations. It is a defining mark of Christian ministry, emphasizing gentleness and respect in all interactions, reflecting Christ's character. In our ministry and daily lives, we are called to embody meekness, allowing it to guide our interactions with others. This gentleness and respect should be evident in our teaching, witnessing, and even in confrontations, as we strive to reflect Christ's character in all we do. [12:16]

"And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth." (2 Timothy 2:24-25, ESV)

Reflection: How can you incorporate meekness into a specific interaction or relationship today, especially in a situation that may require confrontation?

Day 4: Cultivating a Gentle Spirit

To grow in meekness, we should moderate expectations, find joy in God's grace, remember our forgiveness, take time before judging, and make friends with meek people. These practices help us cultivate a gentle spirit. By moderating our expectations of others and finding joy in God's grace, we can remember how much we've been forgiven and extend that grace to others. Taking time before forming judgments and surrounding ourselves with meek individuals can further nurture a gentle spirit within us. [17:03]

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." (Colossians 3:12-13, ESV)

Reflection: Identify one expectation you have of someone that may be unrealistic. How can you adjust this expectation to cultivate a more gentle spirit?

Day 5: Walking with Christ

Meekness is a fruit of the Spirit, cultivated through a close relationship with Jesus. As we walk with Him, His meekness becomes our own, enabling us to inherit the earth and find contentment in His promises. By maintaining a close relationship with Christ, we allow His meekness to transform us, enabling us to live a life that reflects His character and promises. This transformation allows us to inherit the earth and find true contentment in His promises. [36:06]

"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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:29-30, ESV)

Reflection: What specific steps can you take today to deepen your relationship with Christ and allow His meekness to transform your life?

Sermon Summary

In Matthew 5:5, Jesus declares, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." This profound statement invites us to explore the essence of meekness and its transformative power in our lives. Meekness, as we discussed, is not weakness but rather strength under control. It is akin to a wild horse that, once tamed, becomes dignified and purposeful. This controlled strength is a beautiful attribute that brings order to the chaos within our souls, making us more useful in God's kingdom.

To cultivate meekness, we must understand the progression of the Beatitudes. It begins with recognizing our spiritual poverty, acknowledging that we come before God empty-handed. This realization leads us to spiritual mourning, where we grieve over our sins and the cost they have exacted on ourselves, others, and Christ. As we repent, the third ring of meekness becomes attainable. Meekness follows naturally when we see our own sins and extend grace to others, knowing how often we have been mistaken and forgiven.

Meekness is essential in Christian ministry and life. It should characterize our teaching, witnessing, and even our confrontations. The New Testament frequently emphasizes meekness, sometimes translated as gentleness, as a defining mark of a believer's life. To grow in meekness, we must moderate our expectations of others, find joy in God's grace, remember how much we've been forgiven, take time before forming judgments, and make friends with meek people. Additionally, we should take pleasure in others' joys, discern God's hand in adversities, walk daily with Christ, anticipate God's promises, and ask God for meekness.

Ultimately, meekness is not a natural trait but a fruit of the Spirit, cultivated through a close relationship with Jesus. As we walk with Him, His meekness becomes our own, enabling us to inherit the earth and find contentment in His promises.

Key Takeaways

1. Controlled Strength: Meekness is not about being weak but about having strength under control. Like a tamed horse, our strength becomes purposeful and directed when we submit to God's will, allowing us to bring order to the chaos within us. [02:27]
2. Progression of the Beatitudes: Spiritual growth follows a progression, starting with recognizing our spiritual poverty, leading to mourning over sin, and culminating in meekness. This journey helps us extend grace to others as we understand our own need for forgiveness. [07:41]
3. Meekness in Ministry: Meekness should characterize our teaching, witnessing, and confrontations. It is a defining mark of Christian ministry, emphasizing gentleness and respect in all interactions, reflecting Christ's character. [12:16]
4. Practical Strategies for Meekness: To grow in meekness, we should moderate expectations, find joy in God's grace, remember our forgiveness, take time before judging, and make friends with meek people. These practices help us cultivate a gentle spirit. [17:03]
5. Walking with Christ: Meekness is a fruit of the Spirit, cultivated through a close relationship with Jesus. As we walk with Him, His meekness becomes our own, enabling us to inherit the earth and find contentment in His promises. [36:06]
** [36:06]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:17] - Introduction to Meekness
[00:47] - The Taming of Strength
[01:19] - Submission and Winning the Race
[02:09] - Directed Strength
[03:20] - Pursuing Meekness
[04:40] - The Beatitudes' Progression
[05:26] - Spiritual Mourning
[06:29] - Practical Application of Meekness
[07:56] - Kindness Through Self-awareness
[09:35] - Grace and Mercy in Meekness
[10:54] - Meekness in Christian Ministry
[14:22] - Strategies for Growing in Meekness
[20:25] - Remembering Forgiveness
[32:10] - Discern God's Hand
[36:06] - Walking with Christ
[37:42] - Inheriting the Earth
[39:27] - Asking God for Meekness

Sermon Clips

Meekness literally speaking is becoming used to the hand. We thought about wild horses resisting a bit and a bridle. Think of that wild horse out there in the field, kicking and bucking, and you can't get near it. But when the horse gets used to the hand, when the horse is broken, it has a dignity, a poise, it becomes useful. [00:28:03]

Meekness is all about the taming of the temper, the calming of the passions, the managing of the impulses of your heart. It's bringing order out of the chaos that otherwise would exist within all of our human souls. We saw that meekness, therefore, is a fountain of blessing and that we should seek as much of this as we can possibly get in our lives. [00:56:23]

You cannot start simply by deciding to be meek. There is an order, a progression contained within the Beatitudes. Meekness is the third ring. You can't start from the first ring. How do you get onto the third ring? From the momentum you gain from the first and the second. You begin on the first ring, which is blessed are the poor in spirit. [00:14:43]

Spiritual mourning involves sorrow over your own sin. You count up the cost of the damage something you have done or a pattern of your thinking or behavior. You count up the cost as to what it has cost you, what it has meant to other people around you, and supremely what it meant for Jesus Christ to bear that and carry that when he died on the cross. [00:33:19]

Meekness is a defining mark of Christian Ministry. It is to characterize all of our witnessing to Jesus Christ. Christians are to be people so distinctively marked by hope that others would say, why do you have so much hope when there's so much trouble in the world? Our Testimony to Christ is not to be bombastic, overbearing, holier than thou. [00:56:56]

Moderate your expectation of others. God knows our frame and remembers that we are dust. Aren't you glad that God remembers what we are and that he's so gracious and compassionate in light of it? If God remembers the frailty that is mine, I must also be mindful of the frailty of others. [00:14:35]

Remember how much you have been forgiven. This is something to build into your own prayer time every day. Anyone who's lacking these things, here's the problem: they've forgotten that they have been forgiven and cleansed from their past sins. If you remember that you have been cleansed from your past sins, you are going to grow in self-control and therefore in meekness. [00:20:25]

Take time before you form judgments. Every person should be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger. Listen much, be very slow to pronounce judgment and very slow to anger. The one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him. [00:22:25]

Make friends with Meek people. If a person is habitually angry, that is not the person with whom you should be cultivating a friendship. The reason you should not be cultivating a friendship with a person who is habitually angry is lest you learn his ways. Cultivate closeness with Meek people, godly people who will help you to become more like Jesus. [00:25:11]

Take pleasure in the joys of others. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Meekness means that you are glad for those who are doing better as much as you are sorry for those who are doing worse. Meekness allows you to find joy not so much in what God has given to you but in what God has given to others. [00:27:30]

Discern God's hand in the work of your enemies. Jesus did not look to Judas or Pilate but to his Father. The cup that the Father has given me. As long as you see your life as the story of what other people have done to you, you will live with disappointment, anger, frustration, and resentment. [00:32:10]

Walk daily in fellowship with Jesus Christ. Jesus says, here's how meekness comes: you take my yoke upon you, you learn from me because I'm Meek and humble. This is how you are going to find rest for your troubled and fractious soul. None of us has meekness by nature. It comes from the presence of the meek Son of God by his Holy Spirit. [00:36:06]

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