Title: Who is the Meek (Matthew 05:5)
Contents We have been learning about the 8 blessings of the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus taught us and receiving grace over the next few weeks. As I was preparing for this week's sermon, I suddenly had this thought. 'Of the eight things, the people of our country will especially like the third blessing that we will consider together today. They said that if you are gentle, the land will be given to you, but they are very fond of it, so they will probably like it very much. I've been thinking about this a little bit playful. When it comes to real estate, I think that it is truly unfortunate for the country that there are too many people who can't afford it. If we dig into the cause of our economy's backwardness and continuous bruising, and it has problems in many ways compared to advanced countries, it is because the catastrophic land speculation, which is holding the back of this country's economy, is It is no exaggeration to say that.
As long as there is a leader of this country who buys 600,000 pyeong of land nationwide while moving his family illegally 19 times, like lawmaker Kim, who was once a headliner in the newspaper, the future of this country will never be bright. . Perhaps that person was thinking of sweeping away all the other people and living only with his family in this small land on the Korean Peninsula. Because such a physiology is still entrenched in the minds of many people, it is to think that if the earth is given, there may be many meek people. So, everyone, would you like to own the land, please be meek.
But surely people want the land, but I don't think it sounds very pleasant to be told to be meek. Because to modern people, the word meek doesn't seem to make a very good impression. Meekness, literally, means warm and tender at heart. If you ask us to think of a person who is warm and gentle at heart, an image of a fragile personality is naturally drawn in our minds. Images of these people come to our minds: people who have a soft personality who can't even say anything unpleasant to others; people who are helpless and indecisive and don't feel safe no matter what they do; That's why I'm starting to think that being meek doesn't seem like such a good thing.
I once heard an elderly woman complaining about her son-in-law as disrespectful. 'I'm a good-natured person who can live without laws. Don't say anything. I'm getting goosebumps. What if people are good enough for the subject of not being able to earn and feed one of my family members? It's 100 times better to have a person who gets angry and punches and feeds my family properly.' It seems that there are many people who have a slightly negative view of being kind and gentle.
Moreover, in today's society, isn't the grim principle of survival of the fittest still being applied? 'The strong wins. strong is good Therefore, even if there is a line, go to a strong person and line up.' Everything is like this. We all have a tendency to hate seeing ourselves weak to others rather than dying. Therefore, the Lord's words, 'Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth' is not very pleasing.
However, if you think deeply, study, and meditate on these words of Jesus, you will eventually come to know that even if the world changes, it is a truth that does not change forever. The meek are the strongest. Therefore, it occupies the land. The meekness Jesus is talking about is not about the natural soft nature of nature. It is an acquired character that can be expected from all those who have the Holy Spirit in their hearts and confess the Lord as their Savior. In other words, the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts and makes us poor in spirit. And it makes our hearts mourn. Then there is one character that the Holy Spirit shapes in us, and that is meekness. All of us have a temperament that can become violent like a wild horse when urged, and meekness is revealed when the Holy Spirit controls and balances our violent nature. In other words, Jesus is meek.
This balanced and harmonious character of Jesus is often referred to as the fruit of the Spirit. However, meekness is the meekness that is revealed through the meekness of Jesus Christ through me who believes in Jesus. So, if you're naturally a little soft-hearted, it might help a bit, but it's important to remember that this isn't really what it refers to. If you look at the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit that express the perfect disposition of Jesus, there is meekness in them. Galatians 5:23. 'The only fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control'. Isn't gentleness in it? The Holy Spirit creates this kindness in us. When we receive the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, into our hearts, the Holy Spirit transforms our disposition into meek people just as Jesus made the disposition meek. Only then will we become meek. In this sense, it is not an exaggeration to say that someone said, 'The meekness of Christ is the most beautiful jewel that we believers can wear.'
That's why we all have to admit one thing. We all believe in Jesus. Anyone who believes in Jesus lives with the Holy Spirit without exception. Hallelujah! The Holy Spirit is within us. And that Spirit is not a backroom inspiration. Jesus Christ, who is the King in us, is the absolute One who rules us and makes the kingdom of heaven. As the Absolute, He dwells within us and rules us. Then the Holy Spirit changes our character to be meek. Please believe it. Therefore, it is necessary to remember that if you say that you live in the presence of the Holy Spirit and you do not have a gentle personality, you are deceiving yourself and falling into contradiction.
How and by what can we know if we are meek? First, we can examine our attitude in front of God. By looking at how I behave before God, I can tell whether I am a meek person or not. To God, we must act like Job. If you act like Job, you are meek. As we know, Job was the richest man in the East. Job, who lived with so much wealth, proud children of 10 children, and a wife who is said to be the most beautiful woman in the world, met all the conditions to satisfy all the pleasures of life to the extent that none of them envy him, but he became an acquaintance overnight. This is a very important lesson for us. Did you make a lot of money from stocks? It can all be blown away in one day. Do not brag about the wealth I have, the children I am proud of. It can all disappear overnight. Job had such an experience. I became a very pitiful person who could not stand the itching and had to scrape my body with tiles until blood flows all over my body. That it could happen overnight.
Are there some of your dear brothers and sisters who are struggling with misfortunes, uncomprehensible pain and problems that they do not understand, even if they are not in a terrible situation like Job?셲? Do you have no strength to pray? Do you only have a heart? 'How can God treat me this way, even though I have lived a life of faith like this?' Because of this uneasy heart, you keep getting angry with God. Your attitude is not as meek as Job's. Like Job, I want you to trust God completely. Trust in any circumstance. Hope for his faithful promises. And wait. Even if there is crying in the evening, it cannot be said that the crying will continue the next day. Please believe in the fact that according to God's good providence, all things work together for good. I hope that I will become a person who can pray, 'Not as I will, but as you will.' This attitude is the attitude of the meek. To such people, God will give them land when the time is right.
On the other hand, meekness does not only refer to our attitude toward God. Any kind of heart or attitude toward people has a very important relationship with meekness. How he treats a person can determine whether he is meek or not. You can quickly determine whether or not you are a meek person, especially when dealing with those who criticize, oppose, or slander you.
I think it's a good way to compare Moses with ourselves. In Numbers 12:3, Moses calls himself the meekest man in the world. It's an amazing story. The book of Numbers was written by Moses, and he was speaking about himself while he was writing it. 'This man Moses was more meek than all men on the face of the earth.' To put it in simpler terms, it is a self-congratulatory message that says, 'I am the most meek among people living on this earth. So, considering this part, there are many who argue that Numbers was not written by Moses. But nothing too strange. Jesus said of himself, 'I am meek and humble.' So, can't even Moses say that
Looking at the background in which Moses confessed that he was the meekest man in the world, what he said is quite understandable. Moses is the great leader who freed the people of 430 years of slavery and led a great crowd of millions to Mount Sinai. He is a leader with God. His authority was the absolute authority that was confirmed after God before the people of Israel and that no one could challenge. But one day, Moses' older brother and Moses' sister suddenly colluded, and a kind of culprit...