Week 3 - SURRENDERED HEARTS - 2

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:5

Meekness is a fruit of the Spirit reigning within the life of a believer who is fully surrendered to God. A meek person has surrendered their heart with all its desires and ambitions to God.

Are you meek? How do you know? Genuine meekness that flows from a surrendered heart will be evident in your attitudes. Let's examine a few of our attitudes today to determine if we see meekness displayed in our lives.

When Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" He was quoting Psalm 37:11 which says: "But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace." When you read Psalm 37 you see that the writer was going through a great deal of trouble.

• Evil unbelievers were trying to cut him down.
• They were slandering him and trying to ruin his reputation.
• In fact, they were plotting agains him and trying to take his life.

You and I probably haven't had our lives threatened lately (at least, I hope NOT). But we've all certainly gone through difficult circumstances, haven't we? We've probably all had someone misunderstand us or lie about us or treat us in a way that has hurt our feelings. So -

(1) How do you respond when that happens? Does it cause you to worry and/or fret?
The normal human thing to do when people attack you is to get angry, fret over it, and fight back. But that is not the spiritual thing to do. It is not the way a meek person whose heart is fully surrendered to God responds. Meek people submit themselves and their enemies to God and let Him handle the problem.

v. 1 & 8 of Psalm 37 say "refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret - it only leads to evil." Meek people focus their attention and their affection on the Lord - not on themselves or their adversary. When you find yourself fretting because of people or circumstances, you can be pretty sure you are not displaying meekness.

(2) What's your attitude toward Scripture?
James 1:21 commands us to "receive with meekness the imparted word." James wrote his letter to a group of believers who were at war with one another. They had a stubborn attitude toward God's Word. Instead of receiving it with meekness - like planting seed in soft soil - they were arguing and becoming angry. Meek people submit to God's Word and receive it gladly into a prepared heart.

Meek people are able to turn their lives over to God with surrendered hearts because they have a willingness to let Him

• change their hearts
• make them patient
• make them teachable
• make them submissive.
  

We talked last week about Samuel confronting King Saul when he disobeyed God by not destroying the Amalekites. We saw how Saul first denied his sin, then blamed it on others, tried to justify it religiously and even minimized its importance. Saul was not a meek man. He refused to submit to the Word of God. He did not have a teachable spirit.

What about you? Do you have a teachable spirit? How do you receive God's Word when it "steps on your toes"? When the Word quickens to life as you read it and reproves you of sin, do you repent or do you ignore it? The truest sign of being teachable is responding in obedience to what we are taught!

(3) What's your attitude toward sinners - particularly other believers who sin?
Are you secretly pleased to see them fall because it makes you look better? Do you start spreading the news of their sin to others?

Meek people feel sorrow and a desire to help restore the "fallen" to fellowship with God and others. When a brother or sister in Christ has fallen into sin, we have the power to hurt them or help them by our attitudes and the way we respond.

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently." Galatians 6:1 The Greek word translated restore in this scripture carries the picture of setting a broken bone. When a Christian falls into sin, it affects the body of Christ the way a broken bone affects your physical body. It must be restored - set - in order for healing to return.


(4) What's your attitude toward dissension in the church?
There are always people in every church that want to gossip and take sides and divide God's people. Meek people are not interested in taking sides. They are interested in "being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3) the same way Abraham did when there was quarreling between his herdsmen and Lot's.

(5) What's your attitude toward those who disagree with you?
Meek people allow for differences of opinion or interpretation. It's a mark of meekness and maturity to realize that good people disagree sometimes. Even someone who is opposing the Word of God has a better chance of being convinced if we have a meek and gentle spirit.

(6) What's your attitude toward the unsaved?

Meek people treat the lost with gentleness and respect. They don't argue with them or beat them down using their Bible like a club! Jesus has called us to be witnesses - not salesmen and not prosecuting attorneys!

Our attitudes in these six areas will give us a pretty clear indication of how genuinely meek we are. If you've looked at these attitudes in your life and found yourself lacking, you may be wondering how to cultivate this grace of meekness in your life.

Meekness is a fruit of the Spirit. Fruit cannot be manufactured. It must be cultivated. So how does the Holy Spirit cultivate meekness in our lives? You may not want to hear the answer.

Much of it grows in trials - in the difficult experiences of life! We mentioned yesterday that Numbers 12:3 tells us Moses was the meekest man on earth; but how did he get to be that way? There was a time he rose up in anger and killed an Egyptian. Hardly a picture of meekness, was it? God put Moses on the backside of the desert for 40 years taking care of his father-in-law's sheep and used that time to prepare him for ministry. Alone in the desert, caring for the meekest of animals, Moses began to learn meekness.

For the next 40 years Moses led God's people. The Israelites were a rebellious people who wandered and strayed and grumbled far more than Jethro's sheep. I'm sure Moses continued daily learning meekness as he shepherded his flock of human sheep. Moses was fully surrendered to God's will and way in leading these people to the promised land. Repeatedly, he interceeded for them before the throne of heaven begging God to forgive their rebellions.

Think again about the illustration from yesterday's post about Beth Moore combing the tangle out of Melissa's hair. Had Melissa not surrendered to the pain of that experience, would her hair have been alright? I think not! The mat of tangled hair would have gotten worse and worse. You and I, like Melissa, must make the choice: Will we submit in the difficulties of life and allow God to cultivate meekness in us?

Blessed are those who look only to the Lord and His strength and who have surrendered the strength of their flesh for the power of the Spirit. Blessed are those who are so anchored in the indwelling Christ that outward events do not distress them.