Matthew 5:5

Matthew 5:5

Power Under Control 

1. Those who are meek in Christ enjoy the fullness of His inheritance in life, so we must trust totally in His right rule over our lives

1. Jesus’ third beatitude, which proclaims that only the “meek” or “gentle” will be blessed, contains what’s likely one of the most misunderstood concepts in the Bible. In the world, “meekness” is associated with weakness, over submissiveness, victimhood, and loss. But the word translated “meekness” in this verse describes an inward virtue of discipline which produces an outward behavior of “even temperament”. It also refers to an animal which has been domesticated or tamed. Worldly meekness or weakness can be produced in others by guilt, force, oppression, and deception, but true “meekness” in the sense to which Jesus refers is only possible through an inworking of the Holy Spirit, and is the proper response to God in our lives. It’s not the idea of the abused, weak, and cowering animal, but of an animal, which was once wild, but now has its power harnessed and directed but not diminished in any way. The meekness or gentleness which Jesus speaks of only comes as the result of trust. Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus are all biblical examples of true meekness which is the outer result of trusting fully in God as sovereign Lordship over all things, and their lives. Jesus echoes Psalm 37 which contains this Beatitude, but it also instructs us in the characteristics of one who has proper focus, attitude, and relationship with God, and who has enthroned Him over their lives. They trust God, delight in God, commit to God, rest in God, wait patiently on God, don’t fret, aren’t angry, and thus “will delight themselves in abundant prosperity”. We either trust in ourselves and sit enthroned over our lives, which necessitates that we assert ourselves, seek to affirm ourselves, provide for ourselves, gratify ourselves, seek value for ourselves, and seek praise for ourselves, all of which puts us at odds with God and others in the world around us, or we trust completely in God to rule our lives, provide everything we need by His grace through Christ, grow us in right relation with Him, and right orientation to the world around us. (v. 5a; Gen. 12:7; 13:8-9; Numb. 12:1-14; 1 Sam. 24:1-7; 26:6-11; 2 Sam. 16:5-12; Ps. 37:1-11; Zech. 9:9; Matt. 18:3-4; 20:20-28; 21:5; 26:53-54; Luke 9:23-25; John 6:38; 19:9-11; Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Pet. 2:21-24)

2. Those who are meek in Christ enjoy the fullness of His inheritance in life, so because we’re so richly blessed by God, His meekness must be expressed in our daily lives

1. True Christlike meekness in our lives is the result of our proper relationship with God, and the blessing we receive as a result is the inheritance of the earth. An inheritance is something someone only receives as a direct result of their relationship with someone else, and we receive the blessing of all things through our relationship with Jesus, the One to whom all things belong, and with whom we’ve been made coheirs with by God’s grace! This promise will be fully realized in the future of God’s eternal Kingdom, but it’s also a blessing which we experience today. All that for which those in the world labor, strive, sweat, worry, fight, deceive, oppress, become angry, and bitter over, but never ultimately obtain, belongs to us. Those in the world struggle to achieve, assert themselves, expend all their energy, pursue the right human relationships, right education, right career, and right image only to obtain dissatisfaction, insecurity, and discontentment. While those who are humble in Christ enjoy peace, security, and contentment in Him no matter our earthly possessions or circumstances. But this blessing must also impact our attitudes towards others. Those who trust in themselves are continually paranoid, envious, and bitter towards others. Therefore they continually seek their interests over others, revel in the failures of others in order to feel better about themselves, have no patience for those they consider weaker, and desire to see others who they feel wronged them, “get what they deserve”. But those who are meek in Christ and enjoy the fullness of His inheritance in life, seek the interest of others over themselves, are willing to bear patiently with the difficulties and failings of others, are eager to forgive, and even desire to repay evil with good. These actions testify to Christ’s Lordship over our lives, are impossible in our own strength, are the spiritual fruit of God, and the means by which God draws others to Himself. Which characteristics describe your life? Who’s enthroned in your life? (v. 5b; Prov. 3:5-8; Matt. 5:43-45; 11:28-30; 22:36-40; Mark 11:25-26; Luke 23:34; Rom. 5:1-11; 8:14-17, 31-39; 12:9-21; 15:1-2; 1 Cor. 3:21-23; 2 Cor. 6:1-10; Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 1:3-14; 2:1-10; 4:1-3; Phil. 2:3-4; 4:4-13; Col. 3:12-17; 2 Tim. 2:10-13, 24-26; Heb. 1:1-3; Jas. 1:19-22; 1 Pet. 3:15; 5:6-11; Rev. 20:4; 21:1-7)