August 2013

MEEKNESS..NOT WEAKNESS
TEXT: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

Again the whip lashed. The meek shall inherit the earth? What nonsense! These Pharisees knew that they had taken possession of the earth, but they also knew that they had not received it through meekness. The only humility which they knew was that which served as a cloak for their grasping thievery.
Now, the Lord is announcing the righteous principle. Later, He will strip the mask from these alleged holy men and leave them no basis for their hollow pretence. He will say to them, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation" (Matthew 23:14). But in the Sermon on the Mount, the Kingdom offer is being made. He is announcing that in the Kingdom when He shall reign upon the earth, possession will be vested in those who are meek.
We are not to think of this word in any unfavorable sense. Meekness is not fawning servility. It is that quality in a man which proves him to be patient under injuries, not vain or haughty or resentful; forbearing, kind. In truth, it is the gift of God and is a part of the new life that is given to us at the new birth when we have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our own personal Savior. All that an unsaved man may ever know of meekness is the humility, like that of Dickens’ interesting character, Uriah Heep, whose sniveling mockery lasted as long as there was a shred to his mask. Any meekness that the world can know will differ from this only in degree, but it will always be of this kind, for true meekness is the fruit of the indwelling life of the Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 5:22).
Dr. Barnhouse’s exhortation must be heeded by the Church today. We should neither be arrogant and haughty nor fawning and servile under pressure. Stand firm in truth and love, seeking to win our persecutors to Christ. We should all let God’s grace work within us this necessary fruit of he Spirit.

Source: He Came Unto His Own ,Donald Barnhouse

Further Reading: Matt. 11:25-30

We must realize that the Lord Jesus Christ was a Jew, and that He came unto His own as the Jewish Messiah. Why, then, did His own not receive Him?

When John the Baptist came to announce the Messiah, upon which set of prophecies did he draw for his preaching? A careful analysis of all the passages of John’s ministry up to the time he baptized Jesus Christ reveals the following facts: His quotations from the Old Testament are all prophecies of what we call the second coming of Christ, even though he came before the first coming of Christ. John spoke of Christ as Saviour only in one passage, and that on the day of the baptism of the Lord; and most significantly it is only in the fourth Gospel that this is recorded. "… he cried, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1: 29).

What a wonderful sound! And yet they were terrified because sin separates. Here we see the pursuing love of God - He would not leave them in their misery and nakedness, he would speak to them. But when man is running away from God the voice of tenderness takes on tones of awe. “He uttered his voice, the earth melted” (Psalm 46:6). That is the way the voice of the Lord must have come to their fleeing hearts, in spite of the fact that all the tones of tenderness and mercy were there. And, worst of all, they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord. This is the worst of all sins. A sin against one’s own heart and life is bad, very bad. A sin that involves the soul of another is worse, much worse. But a sin that is an affront against the majesty and holiness of God is worst of all. That is why David, after he had committed such a series of sins—adultery, murder—and had betrayed his kingship by failing to lead the people and by sending his subjects to their death in battle—cried out, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). It was, of course, futile to attempt to hide from God, but sin will try any folly. “If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there!” (Psalm 139:8).