Over the foreseeable Wednesdays, I intend to post from Wesley's sermons on Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5-7, in brief form. Part of the design is to build to chapter 7, especially the teaching on "Judge not, lest ye be judged," as it seems to me that very few people understand it. Christians especially use it to avoid being called to account for sin.
Who are the meek?
From Sermon 22 in the 52 Standard Sermons (which, by the way, form our doctrine...):
The meek are not those who have no reaction to suffering or evil, because they are ignorant of it.
Nor is meekness being without zeal.
Wesley says meekness is "resignation," by which he means, "a calm acquiescence in whatever is [God's] will for us."
Meekness actually has a long philosophical tradition; where we take it to mean being a doormat-- and be careful of anyone who exhorts you as a Christian to that kind of meekness! He is fixing to rob you blind!-- the philosophical tradition saw meekness as "balance," someone who did not react manically to whatever stimulus comes along.
The meek will inherit the earth because they are the ones being saved. Or perhaps I should say that meekness comes along in the process of sanctification. The meek are those who accept God's will for them, and do it. They spend, and are spent in the service of God.
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