Obey Meek (3 of 8)
Series: Obeying the Beatitudes
Steve Jones
Matthew 5
INTRODUCTION: Jesus' Sermon on the Mount begins with several enigmatic statements called the BEATITUDES. ''Beatitude'' comes from the Latin root that means that's right, ''happy.'' Jesus is teaching us the attitudes and actions that give us our best shot at happiness, joy and abundance in this life and the life to come. The beatitude we're thinking about today found in Matthew 5:5 ''Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.''
Now I know right away that NONE of the guys, and maybe some of the ladies, listening to me care for this beatitude. I know you guys - you are manly men. When you hear ''Blessed are the MEEK'' I know what you are thinking, you're thinking blessed are the WEAK! You're thinking, blessed are the wimps; blessed are the sissies. You're thinking, ''No way does this beatitude have anything to do with me.'' That's because the word ''MEEK'' has that kind of negative connotation today. But when Jesus used the word, it did not have that kind of negative connotation. As we dig a little deeper today, maybe we'll discover this beatitude has more to do with us than we thought at our first impression.
I. MEEKNESS ISN'T WEAKNESS...BUT WHAT IF IT WAS?
Before I get to the deeper, Biblical meaning of ''MEEK'', I just have to comment on how anxious we are to run past even the traditional, modern meaning of this word as ''weak.'' Every commentary I've read wants to rush to assure the reader that MEEKNESS is NOT WEAKNESS. Okay, I get it, and I feel it, but is WEAKNESS really all that bad? Maybe in our haste to distance ourselves from ''weakness'' we reveal something problematic in ourselves.
ILLUSTRATION: It reminds me of the man who was driving along a rural road one day when he saw a three legged chicken running down the road. He was amused enough to drive alongside it for a while, as he was driving he noticed the chicken was running 30 mph. Pretty fast chick ...
Series: Obeying the Beatitudes
Steve Jones
Matthew 5
INTRODUCTION: Jesus' Sermon on the Mount begins with several enigmatic statements called the BEATITUDES. ''Beatitude'' comes from the Latin root that means that's right, ''happy.'' Jesus is teaching us the attitudes and actions that give us our best shot at happiness, joy and abundance in this life and the life to come. The beatitude we're thinking about today found in Matthew 5:5 ''Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.''
Now I know right away that NONE of the guys, and maybe some of the ladies, listening to me care for this beatitude. I know you guys - you are manly men. When you hear ''Blessed are the MEEK'' I know what you are thinking, you're thinking blessed are the WEAK! You're thinking, blessed are the wimps; blessed are the sissies. You're thinking, ''No way does this beatitude have anything to do with me.'' That's because the word ''MEEK'' has that kind of negative connotation today. But when Jesus used the word, it did not have that kind of negative connotation. As we dig a little deeper today, maybe we'll discover this beatitude has more to do with us than we thought at our first impression.
I. MEEKNESS ISN'T WEAKNESS...BUT WHAT IF IT WAS?
Before I get to the deeper, Biblical meaning of ''MEEK'', I just have to comment on how anxious we are to run past even the traditional, modern meaning of this word as ''weak.'' Every commentary I've read wants to rush to assure the reader that MEEKNESS is NOT WEAKNESS. Okay, I get it, and I feel it, but is WEAKNESS really all that bad? Maybe in our haste to distance ourselves from ''weakness'' we reveal something problematic in ourselves.
ILLUSTRATION: It reminds me of the man who was driving along a rural road one day when he saw a three legged chicken running down the road. He was amused enough to drive alongside it for a while, as he was driving he noticed the chicken was running 30 mph. Pretty fast chick ...
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