SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE 16th September, 2001.

You are in a special sort of supermarket for good qualities.
The shelves are stacked with things like
love, joy, peace making, courage, honesty, compassion,
meekness graciousness hospitality, insight, discretion.
You an only take one home today. Which one would you choose?
How many of us would reach out instinctively for meekness?

'Yuck!' we think: Mr nice guy, Mr loser, somebody indecisive and timid,
someone so unsure of himself
that he could be pushed over by a slap from a wet noodle
someone nice and easy going, just like a pet dog or cat not much use in a crisis.
Meekness is not weakness.
Meekness has the idea of strength under control,
passion channelled in the right direction,
a clear sighted acceptance of one's own strengths and weaknesses,
a controlled desire to see the other's interests advance ahead of one's own.
A meek person is not wishy-washy, indecisive or timid.
Moses the great leader of Israel was called .(Numbers 12.3)
the meekest man that ever lived
'a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth'. His own brother and sister had been criticising him
because they resented his inter racial marriage and his close walk with God
His meekness is demonstrated by his refusal to defend himself,
by his controlled self-commitment to the Lord
when his person and his privilege are under attack.
You may read Numbers 12 for yourselves
to find out what happened to Miriam and Aaron for their critical spirit
and how Moses pleaded for them. There's true meekness.
Sadly Moses was not always meek as we shall see later
but the point is
To be meek is not to be weak, flabby, "nice" wimpy not a doormat,
not so to devalue yourself that you will let others do anything to you,
or do anything for others, for a quiet life.
Truly meek people actually value themselves highly.
Bible calls Christians children of God, kings & priests,
with a rich inheritance, of high calling infinite value.

To be meek is to be so aware of God
you realise how great he is, how much he loves you,
how much you don't deserve it,
to be so close to God through the mercy of Christ
that you have an attitude to yourself and to others
which is the humble serving attitude of Jesus (Philippians 2:1-8
> we no longer despise ourselves we deny ourselves,
which is quite different.

Our model for meekness is of course Jesus himself: Matthew 11:25-30 977
Jesus so close to Father sharing his majesty
'All things have been committed to me by my Father.
No-one knows the Son except the Father,
and no-one knows the Father except the Son
and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him -
together with the meekness > vv 28-29 he appeals to the weary to come to him
'I am gentle and humble in heart and you shall find rest.'

What a promise for this past week! Come to him and find rest
How wonderful it is to know that strength and gentleness of Jesus combined,
the blessing for the meek as he promised, and as Psalm 37 promises:
they shall inherit the earth
But last week's events also pose the opposite feeling:
Do the meek inherit the earth? Don't nice guys come last? Isn't might right?
Isn't this time for strong resolute action, a knock out retaliation?
The difference is that the proud and powerful grab the earth but don't inherit it,
they have no right to it and don't keep it.
30 years of trouble in NI and a reading of human history anywhere show us
that when one violent act is met by another violent act
it breeds terrorism and further misery.
What happened on Tuesday past was completely wrong, evil, appalling
but the roots of it are clear in the sense of injustice that many Muslims feel.
And there is a difficult task for the US government
to react in a way which may deal justice to the wrongdoers
without whipping up multiple misery and destruction.

Meekness not just negatively waiting for evil to pass.
Ps 37 also says: 3 Trust in the Lord and do good 4 Delight yourself in the Lord
5 Commit your way to the Lord
7 Be still before the Lord, rest in the Lord

Call to consistent positive joyful committed and trusting discipleship,
only possible from meek people with hands outstretched and open to God
not closing our fists to grasp our possessions rights, status,
and keep them from God and other people in fear and hostility.
Only the meek inherit all that God promises
and enjoy all that he gives day by day.

Have you wondered what you could do to make things better in our torn world?
Enlist in an army?
That could be right for some but watch what it might do to you.
Ask any soldier who has been in combat: it is a dirty business
Persecute Muslims? Completely wrong,
however much they hand that out to Christians in some places
and however mistaken their teachings are,
(and they are grievously mistaken in their denial of Jesus)
Pray? Of course but not as the disciples once asked Jesus
should they call for fire to come down from heaven as in the Old Testament?
Remember what Jesus said in Luke 9.55
'You do not know what kind of spirit you are
for the son of man did not come to destroy people' lives but to save them.'
What should we do to make things better, to save lives and not destroy them?
Pray and live in the spirit of Christ.
Keep close to him who is gentle and humble in heart
and the paradox is that the seeming weakness and foolishness of Christ
will do more good in this life than every kind of strong arm tactic.
For those whose arms are open to Christ may possess everything
for the meek will inherit the earth
And beware the ending of the story of Moses.
Moses was renowned for being humble, as we saw. But later on he blew it.
The people were grumbling about having no water
and the Lord told Moses to command water to come from the rock.
But Moses got angry with the people and he added to what the Lord had told him
He used strong arm tactics. He scolded them and struck the rock with his staff.
The water came out but the Lord was not pleased with Moses' attitude.
He was told he would not live to bring the people into the promised land.
That does not mean that Moses is not in heaven. He obviously is -
he appeared with Jesus in the story of the transfiguration -
but Moses, under stress maybe, tired to distraction perhaps,
lost that close humble walk with the Lord
and lost out on the reality that the meek will inherit the earth.
Pray for me please; pray for any you know in church leadership.
We should know that it is right to be meek and gentle without being weak
but sometimes it gets too much for us as it did for Moses and we blow,
but human anger does not bring about the righteous life that God requires.
It is not that my getting out of meekness mode disqualifies me from heaven
or makes God love me less, not at all
but every time I use a strong arm tactic and hit the rock and scold the people
I am less liable to see God's blessing in this life.
It is his promise that the meek inherit the earth.

Can you apply that to your life and your reactions to last Tuesday?
As Billy Graham said at a service in Washington.
We all have a choice of reaction.
Our lives may implode in bitterness and despair, like the towers that crumbled
or we may seek a new foundation in Jesus Christ

Lord let us never be doormats because we have despised ourselves
but let us be doorkeepers, people who in denying ourselves and following Jesus
are able to introduce others to a way of living and a quality of hope and peace
that they will not find anywhere else

May God keep you in perfect peace as you stay your minds on him
as you trust in him