Like Our Lord: Submissive to His Father’s Will
What Christians Look Like
Thankfully the Lord tells us plainly what his children look like. We should stick closely to his description, and we will not go astray. Too many try to impose their image upon God’s children, but he shows us his work in his word. He begins by calling us his elect, for the Lord has graciously chosen us to be his own possession. He also calls us new in Christ, created to be like his Son (3:10; Rom. 8:29). It is not we who live but Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20). In Christ, we are relieved from trying to do anything in our own strength. Instead, the Lord Jesus Christ has taken us into union and fellowship with himself, and he graciously works in us. In this verse, we learn that the Spirit forms tenderness and kindness in us. This is in response to God’s mercy in Christ. Such mercy alters us so that we have true views of our lowness. This is not the lowness of wounded pride, but the honesty of the humbled sinner forgiven by mercy shown through the suffering Savior. When our Savior’s cross is planted in our hearts, the roots of pride and haughtiness begin to be pulled up and replaced.
Meekness Personified: Not My Will, But Yours Be Done
Now we see that the Holy Spirit forms meekness in us. A meek spirit is precious to the Lord (1 Pet. 3:4). This is said of wives, and the meekness is commended for its own worth to the Lord. To be meek is to be tamed under God’s hand, submissive to him without grumbling, delivered from a demanding, obstinate heart. When the Lord Jesus draws us to faith and salvation, he makes us like him: “meek and lowly of heart.” Our Lord did not demand his own way and will, but gladly submitted to the will of his Father. He was fully God, one with his Father, and he delighted in pleasing his Father. He humbled himself and accepted the judgment of his Father to redeem his lambs. He was obedient and learned obedience unto death (Phil. 2:8 Heb. 5:8). Learning obedience to the Father is to learn meekness. Meekness is “not my will, but thine be done.” Every believer receives the imprint of the meekness of Jesus Christ upon his soul, albeit imperfectly.
Tamed under God’s Hand
Meekness has to do with a tamed will before the Lord – not demanding to be the center, demanding to have our own way, demanding that others do what we want. Meekness is the opposite of an assertive, self-seeking will that must have its own way or refuses to be at peace with God and others. This is so unlike Jesus Christ our Lord that it must become like a disease to us. Great evil results from a demanding spirit. Wild, unruly hearts led to the cross. A demanding spirit pushes the Lord far away, for he resists the proud. A demanding spirit ruins relationships, alienates children and friends, and sows discord in the church. Gospel meekness does not insist upon having its own way or manipulate situations to have it. Meekness walks humbly with the Lord, as Micah directs us (Mic. 6:8), accepts quietly whatever he brings into our lives, like a weaned child (Ps. 131:1-2), trusting that he knows what is best for us: hardships, trials, suffering, pain, tears, neglect, insults, loss, all the ways we take up our cross and follow the Lord. Meekness does not forget what Jesus Christ endured because of our stubborn self-centeredness, and it seeks to be like him. Meekness seeks strength from him to live quietly and submissively to God’s will, without complaining or doubting his love. Meekness trusts the Lord to right all wrongs, give strength to endure all difficulties, and to work an eternal weight of glory through our earthly afflictions.
Two Stellar Examples of Meekness: Job and Moses
The Lord Gives and Takes Away
Meekness is like Job when he first learned of his troubles, before his friends tormented him to death with their accusations: “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job was living his normal, godly life. The Lord was his life, and then the roof fell in upon Job, and he lost all. His first response was to bless the Lord without complaining. It is one of the most remarkable responses anyone has ever made to sudden calamity. A meek heart leaves to him the government of the world and of our lives. Meekness does not demand its say in the tribunal of heaven. It knows its place – recovered by mercy and redeemed by precious blood. When he chastens us, a meek heart accepts and prays for grace to accept his fatherly discipline without complaining or resentment. Meekness is to have a heart that does not demand its own way or rights. Can we insist upon having our own way when we believe that the Father put his beloved Son to death for our willfulness, for reserving to ourselves the right to make the final decision in our lives, and to live as laws unto ourselves?
The Meekest Man Who Ever Lived
Meekness is also like Moses, who was not as the movies sometimes portray him – a surprised, reluctant hero. Moses first tried to deliver Israel in his own strength by violence. This is not a meek heart but a self-willed, self-trusting heart. Then, expelled from Egypt, he met the Lord at the burning bush, which was the first time he really knew himself. It is when we are confronted with the Lord’s glory, especially the wonders of his mercy and grace, that we really know ourselves – and are quiet, tamed before him. Moses’ time in the school of meekness continued for the next forty years. In the wilderness, he was refined so that he learned obedience, not to trust his own wisdom or strength, but to wait upon the Lord. Thus, of Moses it was written that he was the meekest man who ever lived (Num. 12:3). He had to gain a meek heart before the Lord could use him. He had to confess: “I am here only for you, Lord, and can do nothing without your guidance and your strength.”
Meek Christians Are Bold
We should say another word about Moses’ meekness. It made him very bold to do the hard things God commanded him to do. Meek before the Lord, Moses confronted Pharaoh and led God’s people out of Egypt. Meekness has this strange fruit – courage. When we are broken before the Lord and learn to depend upon him alone, we become like Stonewall Jackson – feeling as safe on the battlefield as on our beds. A meek and quiet spirit before the Lord lives in his fellowship and knows it lives by his grace and will alone. In his fellowship we find real courage – the courage of joyful obedience to his will. Real boldness is not agitated blustering and then doing nothing but complaining and stirring up others to be discontented and frustrated. Bad language is not courage, or anger. Courage is when the Lord tells us to do something that seems impossible to us, and yet because we trust the Lord, we confess with Jonathan, “Perhaps the Lord will work for us.” Then, quite humbly, we move ahead, trusting him, doing what he tells us to do in his word without doubting or complaining. In his own strength, Moses killed an Egyptian. Any madmen can commit murder. In his own wisdom, he thought Israel would recognize him as the deliverer. Every fool is wise in his own eyes. Moses learned courage when he was tamed by the Lord. Then, he went into Pharaoh, demanded Israel’s release, and led the people through the wilderness. Nothing makes us bolder in this life than a meek and quiet spirit.
The Use the Lord Makes of Afflictions to Tame Us
In both these men, Lord used affliction to tame them. In Job’s case, the more he thought about what the Lord had done to him, and the longer his friends accused him, the less meek he became. He thought foremost of his righteousness, and God’s righteousness was obscured in his heart. He defended himself. He was a truly godly man, but he needed to be made meeker. So, the Lord cast his faith into the fire to purify its imperfections and to teach him more dependence, less of self, more of the Lord. The same was true of Moses. The Lord did not use “Moses the Warrior” to deliver Israel from Egypt, but “Moses the Meek.” Moses was already more righteous than anyone in Egypt, but it was not enough to be better than the world. This is hardly praiseworthy. The Lord is forming his people to look like him! By forty years of obscurity, waiting, and testing, the Lord tamed Moses so that he would listen only to the voice of God and be devoted to obeying him. And thus, enduring affliction patiently is the key to meekness. “Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I have kept your law” (Ps. 119:67). It is by afflictions that the Lord empties us of ourselves, breaks our wills, and prepares us to serve him.
This is one sad reason that we do not serve the Lord with the joy and fruit he would give us. We hold on to our own wills and ways, stubbornly demanding to do it our way, and resisting his afflictions. We might endure them, but we do not profit from them. We complain and squirm without learning obedience from them. This is the way to tell if we have truly profited from our afflictions – that on the other side of them, we are obedient to the Lord, that we have been made teachable under the Lord’s hand. Each of us is wild and wayward in his own way. We need to be brought to a teachable state before the Lord –quiet before him, not chaffing under his discipline or refusing to bear the cross, but cheerfully taking up our crosses and following our Lord Jesus Christ. Affliction presses where we are wild and stubborn. It might be a parent’s correction or rejection of a plan we want to pursue. It could be a spouse who continues to confront us about our sins. Or it may be the lack of peace that comes from walking in disobedience to the Lord, or when we are not trusting his strength and wisdom but trying to find some way to have what we want. Then, sickness comes, or a reduction of income, or a troubling season with a child. We tremble, for we know this is the Lord’s discipline in our lives. He is taming our wildness, for he must resist the proud. He must. He is the God who humbles himself, and no proud and self-willed man can live in his fellowship. Thus, he breaks us down so that we will learn obedience, and thus share in our Savior’s joy (John 15:9-11).
Gentle and Mild toward Others
A tamed and teachable heart has a profound impact upon our relations with others. It is the wife’s attitude that is so pleasing to the Lord and that enables her to be led by her husband and to support him, despite his weakness and sinfulness (1 Pet. 3:4). It is the disciple’s attitude that enables us to be submissive to one another (Eph. 5:19), rather than seeking preeminence, impose our wills upon others, and generally go through life with an imperious tone rather than a meek one. A meek spirit does not demand its own way or desire to dominate any relationship. A meek heart is not an emotional black hole that swallows up everyone that comes in its path. Meekness is the opposite of being resentful under injuries, without getting our back up or acting as judge, jury, and executioner. It was David when he refused to punish Shemei for cursing him: “the Lord has told him to curse.” That the Holy Spirit includes meekness in his description of the new man shows that he is leading us away from ourselves. We cannot surrender our wills to the Lord, to be governed by him. We are too pushy and too self-dominated. But the Lord is our deliverer, and in union with him, we can be tamed under his hand so that we do not complain of any mistreatment from his kind hand or grow wrathful at the harsh treatment we receive from others. It is by his grace, his life in us, that we can learn meekness. He strengthens us to see all as coming from him, even great difficulties like persistent pain or disease. Living before his face, we accept meekly whatever he sends to us from others, trusting his love and wisdom, deferring to his government of our lives, and depending upon his strength to carry us home to heaven. Meekness trusts God’s love.
Consider how meekness powerfully alters family life, especially when there is conflict and disagreement. Instead of anger and yelling, or quiet pouting and payback, a meek heart wants to resolve the conflict. It is willing to confront, but the confrontation is not to have its own way or win the argument. The confrontation is to honor the Lord by restoring his peace through righteousness in the relationship. Relational meekness requires that husbands and wives, parents and children, listen to one another, and according to the Lord’s assigned relations, and cheerfully submit to those in authority. At the same time, meekness means that those in authority use their authority lightly, as our Savior’s yoke is easy and his burden light. This is the reason that while fathers have authority over their children, they are warned not to exasperate them by over hardness, an unapproachable demeanor, or wrathful interactions with their children. Instead, a meek father will discipline with patience and teach with kindness. A meek mother will engage the heart of her children, press Christ’s claims upon them, not her own will. Meek children will listen and learn obedience, so that all in the family may put on the new man in Christ’s strength.
Meekness a Relief
Meekness brings relief to our souls. As long as we try to have our own way with God and others, life is a constant inner turmoil. It boils out into conflict with others – petty, sovereign wills fighting for supremacy. Heart stubbornness breeds chaos in marriages and families, businesses and nations. We live in our Father’s world, and all attempts to create Babel and be our own Makers destroy peace. All our peace in this life lies in submission to our Father’s will – like our Savior’s meek heart, or the wife’s with her husband, or each Christian with each other. If we are all seeking to do God’s will, then we can love and forgive one another. We can be lowly toward each other, without fear of being trampled. Meekness gives up its own rights before God’s higher claim to be our Lord, before our Savior’s cross on which he suffered for our poor sakes, and before the Spirit who condescends to dwell with us. Once these truths are believed and as they shape our thoughts, God’s will becomes supreme in our mind, will, and affections. We earnestly and sincerely pray, “Thy will be done.” Then, whether we are exalted or trampled, rich or poor, at ease or in constant stress, we know our lives are in the Lord’s hands. A meek spirit happily releases the government of our lives to the Lord, where it belongs. It seeks to please him and to do his will. It is at peace. “What’er my God ordains is right” it sings. It is right because he is good, and does good. There is nothing better than to live in submission to his revealed will, his providences, and his Fatherly discipline.
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