By: Scott Adkins, Sling ‘n Stone Ministry
Carter County Times
Last week, we remembered that we must preach the Gospel Jesus and the Apostles preached – a Gospel that requires repentance. So, that’s what we must preach. But how must we preach it? Paul instructed Timothy that “the servant of the Lord must… be gentle… in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.” (II Timothy 2:25). But just exactly what is meekness? In the Beatitudes, our Lord teaches: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5). But, just who are the meek?
Moses was the meekest man on Earth. (Numbers 12:3). And, in Numbers chapter 12, Moses showed meekness in action. Aaron and Miriam slandered Moses when Moses married an Ethiopian. (Numbers 12:1). The Lord heard that, (Numbers 12:2); and immediately, He summoned Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to a divine meeting. (Numbers 12:4). The Lord was furious! He opened the meeting by chastising Aaron and Miriam, and defending Moses. (Numbers 12:5-8). The Lord took no questions – as soon as the Lord said His piece, “(H)e departed.” (Numbers 12:9).
But the Lord did not leave Miriam empty-handed; He left Miriam with leprosy so severe that Miriam’s skin started rotting from her bones. (Numbers 12:10, 12). Meek Moses’s response? Immediately, “Moses cried unto the Lord, ‘Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.” (Numbers 12:13). God’s response? No. I’ll heal Miriam in seven days. (Numbers 12:14). The point? God vindicated Moses’s meekness in action.
Consider our Lord Jesus, Who said “I am meek and lowly in heart.” (Matt. 11:29). Undoubtedly, our Lord Jesus remains the meekest man ever to walk this Earth. And during His crucifixion, we see unrivaled meekness in action: As our Lord suffered crucifixion’s agonies, He did what Moses did… He prayed. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:24). Even drawing the breath necessary to utter that prayer cost our Lord unimaginable agony.
That, however, does not tell even half the story. Remember what Jesus said during His arrest? “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall give me twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:53). Jesus could have uttered that prayer from His cross. Thankfully, He did not. Instead, Jesus showed meekness in action by praying for His murderers and not summoning those 72,000 angels because remember, in one night, one angel slaughtered 185,000 Assyrians. (I Chronicles 21:15). That, friends, was Jesus’s meekness in action.
So, how must we put our Lord’s meekness into action while preaching His Gospel that requires repentance? We must use “gracious words” (Luke 4:22), like Jesus did. We must speak those words with a “soft tongue that breaks bone,” (Proverbs 25:15), “(s)erving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears(.)” (Acts 20:19). We must keep “back nothing,” and “count not our own lives dear,” (Acts 20:24), as we honor Him and rescue those who “oppose themselves.”
