We’re nearing the end of our study of the qualities that Paul, the apostle, said in Galatians 5 are the fruit of the Spirit. He gives a list of nine qualities the Lord wants to help us develop. We’ve talked a little about the first seven. We’ve talked about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. We come this morning to one called prautes in the Greek text (the language it was originally written in). And Greek scholars say it’s difficult to capture with an English word. Many of our Bible translations render the term as “gentleness”. And gentleness is a common way this attitude is exhibited, but it’s not the only way. This attitude/quality is more than just gentleness. The older translations, like the old KJV or the old ASV, translated it “meekness”.
Our more modern translations have gotten away from using the word “meek,” largely because it often has a bad connotation today. A lot of people today would be insulted if you called them meek, because the word brings to many people’s minds the idea of weakness or timidity, perhaps a puny and shy person, or maybe a person who is afraid to do anything that might draw attention, afraid to raise their hand in class or to speak up, or maybe someone who is so afraid of any kind of conflict or confrontation that they just go along with whatever the others say whether right or wrong, they never disagree or go against the wishes of others.
I read about this guy who said (I think in joking) that he was writing a book called Cower Power. He also said he founded a group of submissive people. It was called DOORMATS. That stands for “Dependent Organization Of Really Meek And Timid Souls – if there are no objections.” Their motto was: “the meek shall inherit the earth-if that’s okay with everybody?” Their symbol was the yellow traffic light.
But that’s not the idea of this word, this quality, we’re talking about this morning. If we erase the bad connotations from our mind regarding the word meek, then I think it’s probably the best term for what we’re talking about, because it’s broader than gentleness.
So I want to first do that; just clarify what this word does not mean.
Meekness in the Bible in no way suggests a lack of strength or courage.
You may have heard before this term was used in secular Greek to refer to animals that had been tamed, as opposed to wild ones. It referred to a war horse. Still strong, still courageous, but it had learned to control its instincts in a way that it could be useful and live in harmony with others.
We’re going to look at a passage in just a bit in the book of Numbers that calls Moses the meekest man on earth. But if you know much about Moses you know Moses was no wuss or coward and he was not one to compromise his values to avoid confrontation. Moses stood before the most powerful man in the world in his day, and said, “Thus says the God of the Hebrews whom you have made your slaves, ‘Let My people go.’“ Moses came down from Mt. Sinai one time after talking with God to find the Israelites worshipping a golden calf in direct disobedience to how God had commanded them to worship, his anger burned, and in the sight of everybody, he went over to their calf and tore it down, burned it, ground it to powder, scattered the powder over the people’s water supply so the people had to drink it, and turn it into nothing but excrement. See, Moses had a backbone for God’s glory and for what was right. And yet at the same time he was the meekest man on the earth.
Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). But Jesus wouldn’t be intimidated by anybody. He would say things to the face of the Jewish leaders that nobody would dare say to them. And I cannot imagine greater courage than walking to Jerusalem and knowing that there you would take the wrath of God against the sins of man, knowing you were to give yourself into the hands of the vilest people who would do everything they could imagine to cause you the greatest amount of suffering possible. And I cannot imagine greater inner strength than to be in the fires of pain in that horrible torture with the power to destroy them instantly and have relief and yet to restrain yourself, to continue by choice to endure, and not just restrain yourself, but even to think of their well being and pray, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
So this quality we’re talking about this morning has nothing to do with weakness or cowardliness.
I’d like us to look at primarily three passages that both help us to understand what this quality of meekness is and also give us some perspectives that should help to develop it as God wants us to.
Let’s first go to…
Numbers 12
There is this statement in Numbers 12:3 that says, “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.” The OT was originally written in a different language than the NT. It was written in Hebrew. But when the ancient Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew into Greek, the Greek word they would use here for what Moses was, was the word prautes, the word that we’re concerned with this morning, meekness. Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth.
Now let’s read the context of this statement, it’ll help shed some light on it. Numbers 12:1-10, “Then Miriam and Aaron [these are Moses’ siblings, his older sister and older brother] spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); 2 and they said, ‘Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?’ And the Lord heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) 4 Suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, ‘You three come out to the tent of meeting.’ So the three of them came out. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, 6 He said, ‘Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?’ 9 So the anger of the Lord burned against them and He departed. 10 But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous.” Then Moses prayed for her and she only had to be that way for a week. So notice what happens here. Moses’ older siblings, Miriam and Aaron, are jealous of him. They’re jealous that Moses gets to be the main leader and he gets the most attention and recognition and respect. And they’re ambitious to get equal status with Moses. They’re making two arguments for why Moses should not be elevated above them. They say first, “Moses has married a Cushite woman. That’s clearly a sign that’s he’s not a real sensible man. He married a Cushite of all people.” Secondly, they’re saying, “We’re prophets too. God has given us messages to speak to people as well.” And it appears Moses doesn’t argue them. He doesn’t become defensive and try to explain why he’s more worthy than they are of the top spot. He doesn’t promote himself. He just listens to their grumbling and leaves it up to God to decide who should be the one out front. And God intervenes here and makes it very clear to Miriam and Aaron that, “I favor Moses. I have a relationship with Moses that nobody else on earth gets to have. Other prophets get messages from Me in visions or dreams. But with Moses I take on a form and talk with him face to face. We converse with each other regularly like good friends do. So Miriam and Aaron should have been afraid to speak against My servant Moses because that’s like saying I’m wrong to choose him.” So it’s in that context that there’s this little aside, this little explanation in verse 3, “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.” Why does it say that about Moses here? Maybe two reasons. It may be partly to explain why God chose Moses and honored him over all others on the earth. But also it serves I think to explain why Moses didn’t argue with Miriam and Aaron and try to promote himself above them and show that he’s more deserving of his position than they are. A meek man doesn’t do that. A meek man is the opposite of the way you see Miriam and Aaron here, selfishly ambitious, promoting themselves, trying to grab more honor and recognition and status for themselves. That is the exact opposite of meek.
There are other passages where meekness is in contrast with jealousy and selfish ambition. I think of James 3:13-14, “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.” Meekness is mentioned as the antithesis of jealousy and selfish ambition.
You can see this about Moses not just here in Numbers 12, but also in the previous chapter. In Numbers 11 God tells Moses He’s going to give him some help in the leadership of the people. And He said, “Moses, gather together the 70 elders of the people to the tabernacle and I’ll equip them to bear the leadership of the people with you, I’ll take of the Spirit that is upon you and put the Spirit upon them, to empower and give them wisdom and help them share the leadership with you.” And so Moses summoned the elders of the people to the tabernacle and God came down in the cloud and the Spirit came upon these elders and they began to prophesy, confirming that the Spirit of God indeed had come upon them. But there were two elders, Eldad and Medad, who did not come as they were supposed to, to the tabernacle. They stayed out in the camp with the people, and yet the Spirit also came upon them and they began to prophesy out in the camp among the people. A young man ran to the tabernacle and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” And Joshua, Moses’ assistant, said, “Moses, my lord, restrain them! Send word! Don’t let them do that!” Joshua didn’t want them taking any of the recognition or glory away from Moses; people might like their sermons more than Moses. Moses said to Joshua, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” Moses wasn’t concerned about recognition and fame and status. He cared about God’s glory and cared about people. You even see him at the end of Exodus 32 offering God his own soul if He will forgive the people for the golden calf incident.
I think you see this quality in Moses even when God first called him in the burning bush to be His spokesman and to lead the Israelites out of Egypt; Moses’ response was not, “Yes, finally the position and glory I’ve been after.” No. Moses actually tried to turn down the offer. He said, “Lord, I’m not qualified for that. You don’t want me. My brother Aaron would be a better choice. He’s a much more eloquent speaker than I am. And people more readily listen to him than to me.” Now, that was not all good and commendable on Moses’ part. He should have trusted that if God thinks he’s the man for the job, then he’s the man for the job, and God can make an inadequate person like himself adequate. But it further illustrates that Moses was not selfishly ambitious for power or prestige or status. I think that’s why he didn’t argue with his sibling that he was better than them, I think it may be part of why God chose him.
Psalm 37
It’s a rather long Psalm so we’re not going to look at all of it. But it is from this Psalm that Jesus quoted in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth [or the land].” That’s a quotation from Psalm 37:11.
Let’s read it with the verses that come before it. “1 Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers. 2 For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb. 3 Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. 6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday. 7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. 8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. 9 For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. 10 Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. 11 But the humble [the meek] will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.”
So the situation that the Psalm is acknowledging and responding to is that there are evildoers in the world; there are people who reject the will of God and decide to go after and grab all the possessions and power and prestige and position and pleasure they can for themselves; they use and disregard others in their quest to advance themselves. And the fact is that it appears that a lot of times they get what they want. Through rejecting the will of God and selfish ambition and scheming and pushing and shoving and stepping on others, they get ahead, they become rich and powerful and gain things for themselves that are enviable. But the Psalm says do not fret about that. Do not be angry about that. Do not be envious of them, because their prosperity will only be for a short time. And if the righteous are in hardship it will only be for a short while. In the end the tables will be turned. Those who rejected God’s way for their own way will lose everything and be cut off and be no more, nothing but death is their future. But those who decide that it’s more important to obey God, be honest, pure, care for others, give, and serve, over grabbing things for themselves, they will be exalted and honored, life and abundant prosperity is their future. So trust in the Lord that He will raise up His faithful ones and bring down the evildoers. Rest in the Lord. Wait for Him, meaning don’t go out there and battle and scheme and strive for what you can get out of this world. Wait for God to exalt you and give you riches, honor and things you desire.
In other words, be meek. Blessed are the meek. Again it’s the opposite of envy and selfish ambition, pushing people out of your way, reaching, grabbing, taking for self. It’s a willingness to take the lower place, to not have as much, to be in whatever position and circumstance God wants you, and to wait on God to exalt you and give your heart’s desires.
The world doesn’t get this. The world doesn’t understand “Blessed are the meek.” The world thinks in terms of “Blessed are those who assert themselves, for they shall get their way.” “Blessed are those who promote themselves, for they shall be noticed.” “Blessed are those who push and shove and step on others, for they shall be on top.” They think in terms of “survival of the fittest,” “nice guys finish last,” “you have to look out for #1.” But the one who made and sustains this world, who promises to replace it with a whole new world, is watching, He sees who is grabbing and taking and stepping on others and being selfish and who is not. And He has declared, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land or the earth.” And when it was originally written, it may have meant the land of Canaan. But maybe not. They had already inherited the land of Canaan at the time when David wrote that Psalm. I think when Jesus quoted it, “they shall inherit the land,” He was meaning the ultimate promised land, the new earth. That land is for the meek.
Jesus told a parable one time that encourages meekness, though the word meek is not used in it, it is the attitude that’s being encouraged. It’s in…
Luke 14:7-11
Jesus was at a banquet. And at banquet tables in that day the guests would recline around the table in a U shape. At the center of the U, the head of the table, would be the host, and the spots nearest to him were the places of highest honor. The further away you were from the head of the table the less honorable the place. Well, Jesus noticed some of the Pharisees coming in and putting themselves in the seats of honor at the table. And then he used it as the basis for his parable, He said (paraphrasing), “If you want the places of honor that’s not the way to do it. Because if you come in and take one of the best seats for yourself, you know what’s likely to happen, the host is going to come in and consult his guest list and say, “No, excuse me, you’re not supposed to be in that seat, that’s for someone else. You go sit down there.’ And in front of everybody you will be embarrassed. Instead what you should do is when you come in, just take one of the least desirable seats, then when the host comes in and he sees you there, He’ll say, “Hey, you’re not supposed to be back there, come on up.’ And instead of being embarrassed and humiliated, you will be honored.” Then Jesus ended it with that classic statement, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” The text says Jesus told them this parable. It’s a parable. It’s not just a story about what may happen at a banquet table. It’s a story about the two kinds of attitudes that we can take toward life. There’s the selfishly ambitious, promote yourself, exalt yourself, put yourself over others, not care who you’re pushing out of your way, grab and take for yourself attitude. And if that’s our attitude in life, then God’s going to come along and say, “No, sorry, that’s not for you.” Or, there’s the attitude of meekness; you’re willing to take the place of a servant, you do the will of God and care for others, and you leave your status and lot in life up to God. If He wants to exalt you, fine. If He doesn’t want to exalt you in this life, that’s fine too. And if that’s your attitude in life, then one day God is going to come and say, “You shouldn’t be down there. You come up here next to Me.”
How are we doing on meekness?
Obviously if what we love to talk about is how great we are and how not great others are we’re lacking meekness. We may be lacking meekness if: we are angry about other people around us having more than we do, we’re really concerned about who gets the credit, we’re going to make sure other people know when we did something good, we’re concerned about riding “shotgun” in the car when with a group and going where we want to eat and watching the show we want to watch, we seek get rather give compliments.
Sometimes a lack of meekness can be more subtle, more hidden in the heart. Our words and actions on the outside may appear good and right and holy, yet selfish ambition may behind them. I need to ask myself often, why I’m trying to do a good job as a preacher? Is it because I want your praise on Sundays? I want compliments and nice things said about me? And is it because I want to become a well known and respected preacher and get invited to speak to large audiences and be sought after and have lots of people buying my books? Am I driven by the desire for earthly glory and status? Is that the motive of my heart?
Why is it that you do what you do? Why do you work so hard to succeed in your business? Is it for the same reason as that guy who wanted to build bigger barns in Luke 12, so you can have many goods laid up for many years to come and can take your ease, eat, drink and be merry?
Why do you work so hard, if you do, to get thousands of followers on Twitter or Facebook or your blog?
Are we competing with people for power, status, recognition, position? And is that for God’s glory and the good of people or just for us?
Meekness means our driving ambition is not advancing ourselves in the world. It is the glory of God and the good of people and the salvation of souls.
I pray we will not only see that God will exalt the meek, call them up to a better seat, but that we will see more of the glory and greatness of God. To see that will help us to have our ambition in life to be to please Him and bring Him honor and souls. When we go out the doors today, I hope you’ll look around at this beautiful creation and realize He made all this and He sustains all this and that He loves you as a good Father does His children. He suffered and died in Jesus Christ to show you His love. He’s going to right the wrongs of this world. Those who refuse to repent He will deal with justly. It won’t be unjust whatever He does with them. It will be just. O but to those who submit their lives to Him, His grace is unimaginable. The God who made all of this has promised a new heavens and new earth and new bodies and eternal life to them. I pray we will see how awesome, how worthy our God is and have as our ambition to please Him.
-James Williams