Sunday October 28, 2012 | Bruxy Cavey
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Church history has been painted and made by angry, alpha types. Whether it was governments or church leaders, it seems that we find violent, power-hungry attitudes throughout history. In this sermon, Bruxy Cavey teaches the importance of dealing with the temptation of anger.
Much of church history has been written by the angry, alpha types. These types of people are the kind that act on their anger and want to wield power against those that think or act differently than them. Unfortunately, this hasn’t changed much today. While most of the angry, alpha types in the church don’t have the power of the state, it seems that there is still an underlying anger and hunger for power.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek”. The Greek word for meek means gentleness, mildness of spirit, power under control, or a submitted strength. A good example of meekness is a bull. If you set a bull loose in a china shop, you will have disastrous consequences because the bull’s strength will be a detriment. However, if you put a yoke on a bull, it becomes a source of great power to do things that we normally couldn’t. Meekness is not weakness or a lack of strength. Rather, it is power under control.
America is not a nation that celebrates gentleness. It was born out of rebellion. There are no magazines or newspapers that celebrate gentleness. And while we do read stories of gentleness from time to time, most of our stories center on those that are angry or want power. Athletes, politicians, or business leaders, they all share in the common desire to exude power, but they don’t want to appear meek or gentle.
Jesus said that those who are meek will inherit the earth. It’s interesting that what the powerful fight over and never claim, Jesus promises to those who will be gentle and restrain their power. Those who don’t use anger to get what they want will inherit what the angry fight over. So, how do we be gentle? There are five main ways in which we can combat anger with gentleness.
The first is that we should be slow to get angry because it isn’t helping the way we think it is. Human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. God wants the righteousness of a meek individual. The second way is to be quick to get rid of anger. Anger harms us more than we realize. When we harbor anger and are not quick to get rid of it, it gives the devil a foothold and reshapes our lives into one of anger instead of
gentleness.
The third way is to let love, not anger, be our motivation to action. Many people get angry about issues in this world, and they use that anger to motivate them to action. God calls us to action through love, not anger. The fourth way is to transmute our anger into godly sorrow, mourning, or grief. Time and again, we see a situation where God should be angry but he actually responds out of his sadness. We can mimic this in our own lives, and when we see something that makes us angry, we should turn that into a heart of sadness for the way the world is corrupted. Finally, the fifth way is to be filled with the spirit and the fruits of the spirit. The fruits of the Spirit do not include anger, so we should be quick to get rid of anger since it is not of the Holy Spirit.