On the world stage we are daily seeing the human atrocities resulting from the brutal selfish might of the Russian military machine unleashed by Vladimir Putin’s naked, self-consumed ambitions. The dark, evil background of what is happening in Ukraine serves to illuminate, by contrast, two brilliant diamonds of Christ-like character in today’s episode: a) self-controlled might that serves, described in the third beatitude by the Greek word PRAUTES vs Russian selfish might that destroys. b) godly ambition to see the kingdom of righteousness spread, described in the fourth beatitude vs Putin’s ruthless ambition to advance his rule over Ukraine.
MATT 5:5 BLESSED ARE THE MEEK FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH
Unfortunately, the English word meekness is such a bad translation of the Greek word PRAUTES, that we must devote some time to what this word does NOT mean. This is especially true because Jesus described himself as meek.
- Meekness is NOT being spineless, weak-kneed, ineffective, or soft. You cannot see Jesus cleansing the temple, whip in his hand, fire in his eyes, turning over tables—the money changers stumbling all over themselves to escape Jesus’ fury—and think that meekness is spinelessness! It is not.
- Meekness is not timidity. Jesus was not timid. As one author writes, We have had enough of the emaciated Christ. the pale, anemic, namby-pamby Jesus, the “gentle Jesus meek and mild.” Perhaps we have had too much of it. Let us see the Christ of the gospels, striding up and down the dusty miles of Palestine, sun-tanned, bronzed, fearless. Clean the canvas, Get back to the original. Not this religious weakling of our imagination. Not this affected emotionalist of our pretty pictures. But the Christ commanding in His manner, challenging in His message, conquering in His manhood, compelling in His mission—the revolutionary Jesus.
- Meekness is not fearing confrontation. Jesus was not like the co-dependent wife of a drunk who just takes his physical abuse refusing to confront her husband with his problem—or the man who refuses to stand up to his boss. Jesus said, No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord (John 10:18). Jesus not only rode into Jerusalem his final time, knowing that he would be crucified there, but before that, he went back to his hometown of Nazareth a second time even though the first time the elders had tried to execute him by throwing him off a cliff! Jesus did not avoid confrontation.
What is meekness? The word, PRAUTES, describes a horse that is no longer wild but has been trained to respond to the control of the rider. PRAUTES describes a magnificent, powerful, spirited animal, that has learned to answer to the reins—to accept control. The restless, wild, carless nature of the horse has been brought into submission. The horse has learned to accept control. It no longer resists or fights its rider, but quietly submits. Meekness is placing our power under the King’s control. It is making all of our power, and strength, and passion, and energy responsive to the touch of the Master to whom we have given the reins of our lives. Meekness is not being passive; it is ruling and shaping our lives. But we do that FOR Christ.
There is a second word picture that describes meekness. Paul points us to Jesus’ example who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant (Phil 2:6-7). Jesus laid aside his rights as God to take on the form of a human who has no rights, a slave. The word Paul used was DOULOS. The word is profoundly important for understanding meekness. A DOULOS was owned by his master. Meekness is seeing myself and all that is mine as belonging to God. We were bought with a price. The price is the shed blood of Christ. Meekness is renouncing self-interest and entrusting all of my rights to God, because he owns me. One of the best pictures of meekness comes from a custom in Israel given by God through Moses. If a slave loved his master and wanted to voluntarily serve him the rest of his days, the master was to bring the slave to a doorpost where the master was to pierce the slave’s ear with an awl. To follow Christ is to let him pierce your ear. You belong to him as his DOULOS while trusting him to take care of your needs and wants. Meekness is giving all I am and own to God—he has the right to control them—my body, mind, heart-affections, sexual appetite, reputation, earning power, investments, time, gender role, home, possessions, vocation, energy--but then receiving them back again to be his stewards of them. From Jonathan Edwards’ diary—this was his perspective!
I claim no right to myself—no right to this understanding, this will, these affections that are in me. Neither do I have any right to these hands these feet, these ears, these eyes. I have given myself clear away and not retained anything of my own. I’ve spoken to God this morning and told him I have given myself wholly to him…Henceforth I am not to act in any respect as my own.
Tremendous inner freedom—the freedom of meekness—results from seeing ourselves as belonging to our Lord. It is his job to provide for me, which brings tremendous freedom from financial worries. It is his job to provide the friends I need; so I don’t need to worry about being accepted. It is his job to protect my reputation, so I don’t need be lash back at those who criticize me. Martin Lloyd Jones in his classic work, The Sermon on the Mount, defines meekness as “leaving everything in the hands of God.”
What is the reward of the meek who put themselves and their rights on the altar? Jesus tells us. They shall inherit the earth. When you entrust to God the ownership of all that you are and all that you have, get ready to discover that God takes good care of his property. This is the massage of the entire 37th Psalm. It contrasts selfish, abusive conquest of the land by evil means with trusting the Lord for material security and blessing. In verses 10-11 we read, In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. When we give our rights to God, he will test whether we really have surrendered them or not. But in the end, the way to inheriting the good blessings of this earth is to give God the right to them. Scripture proves this truth:
- Jesus humbled himself becoming a slave. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name (Phil 2:7-11).
- Abraham offered his only son (with Sara) on the altar to God, which resulted in and became the father of innumerable Jewish, Arabic, and Christian sons. Genesis 22:16-17 explains. By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.
- Many of the early Christians in Galilee and Judea were persecuted by their Jewish synagogue communities. But Jesus said to them ahead of time, There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now IN THIS TIME, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions (Mk 10:29-30).
Meekness is transferring the ownership of myself & my rights to God and trusting him to give me the blessings of this world (inheriting the earth) on his timetable.
MATT 5:6 BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, FOR THEY SHALL BE SATISFIED
On the surface, this kingdom attitude doesn’t appear to have much to do with ambition. After all ambition is what is driving Putin. Ambition for an economically strong South drove white plantation owners’ horrific treatment of black slaves, drove the Nazi attempts to build a pure Arian race by exterminating six million Jews, drove the ISIS slaughter of Christians to usher in the next califate. Ambition seems a heck of a lot like self-promotion at the expense of others, which is at the heart of evil. But is ambition, itself sinful? No. The ability to care passionately about a cause is a God-given capacity of humanness. In fact, the more God transforms the human heart, the more we experience grace-ignited godly ambition. Listen to Spurgeon’s words about spiritual warfare:
The true soldier is an ambitious being. He pants for honor, seeks for glory. On the field of strife he gathers his laurels, and amidst a thousand dangers, he reaps renown. The Christian is fired by higher ambitions than any earthly warrior ever knew. He sees a crown that can never fade. He serves a king who, best of all, is worthy to be served. He has a motive within him which moves him to the noble deeds—a Divine Spirit impelling him to the most self-sacrificing actions (Sermon, “A Good Soldier of Christ”).
“The higher ambition that ought to fire the passions of Christians is the hunger and thirst for righteousness,” says Jesus. This fourth beatitude, says John MacArthur, Speaks of strong desire, of driving pursuit, of a passionate force inside the soul. It has to do with ambition—ambition of the right sort—whose object is to honor, obey, and glorify God by partaking of his righteousness. This holy ambition is in great contrast to the common ambitions of men to gratify their own lusts, accomplish their own goals, and satisfy their own egos (NT Commentary on Matthew).
The power of Jesus’ metaphor of hungering and thirsting misses modern day believers who usually have enough to eat and drink. But in Jesus’ day, a working man ate meat only once per week and many beggars would have to go two days before eating. Severe thirst was even more common in a world where there was no plumbing, a hot, scorching sun, and dust storms that could fill the throat and nostrils nearly to the point of suffocation. Jesus is saying, I want my followers to long for righteousness to rule their own hearts and to cover the earth as intensely as a starving beggar craves food and a parched-throated traveler thirsts for water.
To see the greatness of this kingdom attitude we have to see what it is NOT.
- Hunger and thirst for righteousness is not a pre-conversion desire to be justified, i.e. declared righteous in God’s eyes. The righteousness that Jesus refers to is not a onetime act, but an ongoing process.
- Hunger and thirst for righteousness is not the legalism practiced by the Pharisees and most religions. It is NOT self-righteousness.
- Third, the righteousness for which we are to hunger is not the external righteousness of rule-keeping, but heart righteousness. That is Jesus’ point later in the Sermon on the Mount, where he gives the beatitudes.
Righteousness: (DIKAIOSENE) Conformity To The Moral Law Of God
A. Personal Righteousness. When it comes to spreading righteousness over the earth, change begins with me. Personal change is at the very root of giving oneself to a cause. This means bringing every part of our being—our thoughts, motives, attitudes, actions, speech—into conformity with God’s commands—his moral law. David models the truth that one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness in his own life is one who loves the moral law of God: How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you (Ps 119:9-11).
B. Social Righteousness. John Stott, in his book, Christian Counter-Culture writes, Biblical righteousness is more than a private or personal affair; it includes social righteousness as well. And social righteousness, as we learn from the law and the prophets, is concerned with seeking man’s liberation from oppression together with the promotions of civil rights, justice in the law courts, integrity in business dealings and honor in home and family affairs. Thus Christians are to hunger for righteousness in the whole human community.
Biblical Thinking About Defending Human Rights
- A “right” doesn’t mean “something I really want”: I may want my neighbor’s car, but that doesn’t give me the right to drive off with it. I may want society to pay me for never working again, but that isn’t a “right” I can demand.
- There is no right to take away someone else’s rights: “Women’s rights,” includes women being able to vote or drive. But notice that voting and driving don’t take away anyone else’s rights. A woman’s desire to have an abortion is not a right because abortion conflicts with the baby’s right to life. Transgender women have no right to force other women to give up their right to privacy in the locker room or right to compete fairly against women, not men.
- Human rights come from God, not the state. Throughout history, Christian thinkers have insisted that good laws secure our rights, because they agree with God’s highest moral laws. Here are some examples:
- You shall not murder (Ex 20:13 + laws about injuring another) —the right to life—to protection from physical assault
- OT Law against rape (Dt 22:25-27) —the right to privacy concerning your body—protection from sexual assault
- You shall not steal (Ex 20:15 + OT civil laws about property, just weights and measures)—the right to private ownership.
- You shall not bear false witness (Ex 20:16 + OT laws about slander, false testimony)—the right to not be lied about or legally harmed by dishonesty
- Seek justice; correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause (Is 1:17)—the right to freedom from oppression
Righteousness and the Poor
We cannot hunger and thirst for righteousness without addressing the biblical link between righteousness and caring for the poor. I must confess that I am a part of a middleclass Christianity that did not properly emphasize this aspect of hungering for righteousness as I should have: Here is a text right from the moral Law of God:
- Dt 15:6-8. If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.
- In the same sermon in which he gave this 4th beatitude, Jesus affirmed the fact that giving to the poor, (almsgiving), which was a pilar of piety in Hebrew culture WAS REQUIRED to demonstrate righteous character. He just stressed that it should be done in private. Beware of practicing your RIGHTEOUSNESS before other people in order to be seen by them….Thus, WHEN YOU GIVE TO THE NEEDY, sound no trumpet before you (Mt 6:1,3).
There are three biblical causes for poverty. One cause is oppression or injustice. One of the key words most often translated “poor” in the OT is ani, which means the wrongly dispossessed (their right to material goods is violated). Delayed or oppressive wages (Dt 24:14-15), court and government systems weighted in favor of the wealthy (Lev 19:15) and high interest loans (Ex 22:25-27) were examples of oppression. The second cause of poverty is natural disaster or calamity. Examples abound in Scripture—crop failures, disabling injury, victimization by criminals, storms, or floods. Leviticus 25: 35-46 uses the expression, if your brother becomes poor. It mandates caring for him and his family. It forbids exploiting him. The third cause of poverty is personal sin, including laziness (Prov 6:6-7), lack of self-discipline (Prov 23;21) and love of pleasure (Prov 21:17).
Tim Keller, in his book, Ministries of Mercy observes: “These distinctions are essential if we are to avoid uncritically adopting either the liberal or conservative ideology towards the poor. The liberal tends to see all the poor as oppressed…. The conservative sees all the poor as irresponsible. Both sides over-simplify the complex causes of poverty. Therefore, Christians must be wise about HOW we do it; but hungering and thirsting for righteousness means generously helping the needy.
I want to close our time with a challenge from John Stott. After pointing out that human ambition can be self-centered or God centered, he also distinguishes between small ambitions and large ones. He writes, Ambitions for God however, if they are to be worthy can never be modest. There is something inherently inappropriate about cherishing small ambitions for God. How could we ever be content that he should acquire just a little more honor in the world. No. Once we are clear that God is King, then we long to see him crowned with glory and honor and accorded his true place, which is the supreme place. We become ambitious for the spread of his kingdom and righteousness everywhere.
For Further Prayerful Thought:
- Worry and anger are two emotions that signal that we have not fully transferred our personal rights to God. Which rights are the toughest for you to trust God with?
- Since “righteousness” could be defined as the path of life, why might Jesus compare craving righteousness to a starving man craving food or parched man longing for water?
- What if any new insights stood out to you about our responsibility to hunger for social righteousness. What questions do you still have?
