The Simple Answers… To Life’s Most Important Questions.
Bible Study Course Lesson 5 – 2
A long time ago, I saw a movie where a sergeant told a new recruit “there’s the right way, and there’s my way; and if there’s any difference, we’ll do it my way”. Now this sounds arrogant, and it is; but it is perfectly acceptable, for God Himself does it (Matthew 20:10-15). See, if you own, say, a business; and you hire someone to work for you, his job is to do what you say. That’s why you pay him. You don’t pay him to understand it, to like it, or do it his way. You pay him to do it your way, even if he disagrees with you.
And your contract is between you and him, regardless of what you pay other people, regardless of how much profit you make, your contract is simple – you give orders, he follows them. Anything less than that is sin (1 Peter 2:17-18). How do men in authority in Gentile nations behave? Luke 7:8. Now consider this for a moment; suppose this man accustomed to authority should give a command to “go there”. What if his servant says “why?” How would that man have reacted? Would he have patiently explained why he gave the command? John 15:15. Absolutely not! When he says “do this” his servant HAD BETTER DO IT!
This servant, like the beast, would be humbled out of fear. He would be obeying based on authority, as he should (Colossians 3:22). And if the servant was foolish enough to demand a reason, “because I said so” is all the reason he would get. And there is nothing wrong with that. Your employees have an obligation to obey you, and you don’t owe them an explanation. But this is for an old covenant relationship – a relationship of works! The master provides money, the servant provides obedience of the flesh, and that’s the end of their contract.
So when you’re ruling your kingdom, your business, or your home, “because I said so” is all you have to say… if all you’re looking for is OC obedience. But if you’re hoping your subjects, your employees, or your children grow up to be like you, you’ll have to give them a better explanation than that. Because the one thing you cannot do is tell them to believe you because you said so! As a ruler, you have a right and a responsibility to rule their beast however you like, within the terms of your contract. But you do not have the right to rule their spirit! You can tell them to obey you whether they understand or not; but you cannot ask them to believe you without showing them the facts on your side, and reasoning with them about WHY you’re doing what you’re doing.
Consider Psalms 45:2-7. In this prophecy of Jesus’ triumphant return to Earth to rule all nations (compare with Hebrews 1:9, Deuteronomy 32:41, and Revelation 19:11-21), David speaks of many things about God’s might, majesty, and vengeance against God’s enemies… but the odd thing is, in the midst of these other things, he says “because of truth and MEEKNESS and righteousness”. The true Jesus WAS and IS “meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). And yet this same meek Jesus will preside over a slaughter of the wicked so great the blood from the slain will be as deep as the bridles on the horses (Revelation 14:18-20).
The world’s Jesus with a beatific, effeminate, downcast gaze is their perfect ideal of meekness. Yet that creature could not be imagined as someone whose “arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies”. That doesn’t fit with the world’s definition of meekness which means their definition is wrong!
JUDGING MEEKLY
When we catch someone “in a fault”, what should we do? Galatians 6:1. First, notice it is a spirit of meekness. This tells us that meekness is an attribute of the spirit! Second, how does this verse translate into reality? When you see someone, say, steal something… what is this telling you to do? How is it telling you to approach them? As always, we find the answer by merging with other scriptures. How did our perfect example meekly deal with rebellious sinners? John 8:36-47. Here, Jesus had “overtaken the Pharisees in a fault”. How did He “restore them in the spirit of meekness”?
Jesus said they were children of the devil, not Abraham; thus effectively calling them illegitimate. They responded in kind, saying “WE are not born of fornication”, like they believed He was. After all, what’s more plausible – a virgin birth, or a horny teenager? Jesus responded to them, still in the spirit of meekness, by calling them a variety of names. So clearly, meekness does not mean mild-mannered, quiet-spoken, or avoiding confrontation. Does it mean never judging someone? Zephaniah 2:3. Are we supposed to judge others? John 7:24. Are we supposed to judge among our selves? Luke 12:57.
Specifically those in the church? 1 Corinthians 6:2-5, 1 Corinthians 5:12-13. The one verse everyone in the world knows is Matthew 7:1. As always, if you yank seven words out of the Bible and put them on a billboard they do seem to indicate that judging is wrong. But you know how to examine things like this now – first, what does it say? Second, what is the context? Third, how does it merge with other verses? For if you keep reading down to Matthew 7:5, it clearly says that after you remove the beam in your own eye, you will be qualified to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye! Compare that to Romans 2:1-3. Does that condemn judging… or hypocrisy?
My judgments will not affect a person’s eternal life. If I say you’re a sinner, that does not mean God will send you to hell, even if it existed. It’s a warning, that you seem to me to be a sinner and you should think about that, and change if you see that I’m right. That’s the job of every true Christian (James 5:19-20). But I must do that in the spirit of meekness; the purpose of this lesson is to discover what exactly that means. Remember, pride and humility refer to how we obey others, and thus are primarily characteristics of the heart.
But meekness is not about how you learn, but in how you teach! Not in how you follow, but in how you LEAD! That’s why Jesus emphasized His meekness when He asked us to follow Him! (Matthew 11:29). Meekness is not an attribute of the beast because the heart should never lead anything! The body is supposed to be yielded to be the servant of right and wrong (Romans 6:13, 19). And as you learned in the last lesson right and wrong is stored in the spirit!
That is why it must be the spirit which is meek! The whole purpose of the spirit is to correct people who disagree with it! So humility is how your heart follows a leader; but meekness is how your spirit leads a follower. Pride is how your beast resists commands; arrogance is when your spirit attempts to share and enforce its beliefs with authority instead of reason.
MEEK KINGS
How do kings usually act? Mark 10:42-45. Was it noteworthy that the King of Kings was meek? Matthew 21:5. We already noted how Psalms 45:4 contrasted majesty with meekness; because meekness seldom is found with royalty! Because their job is to rule OC people, and meekness is not required! But Jesus promised to rule us in meekness, explaining His actions to our spirits as a friend would do, not simply enforcing His beliefs with authority as a Gentile ruler would do (compare to the Pope, for example). An argument is true or not because of evidence, not authority. It should stand or fall, not because “God’s apostle said so”, but because we can provide objective evidence for it! Not because “this is what the church teaches” but because “this is what the Bible teaches”.
When you speak to people, you should never say, “this is what Nathaniel says”, but rather “this is what the Bible says”. If it isn’t what the Bible says, you shouldn’t believe it; and if it is, then the fact that I teach it won’t make it any more true. And so when a preacher implies that you should believe him because “that’s what we teach”, that’s textbook arrogance, because even Jesus who had the whole truth of God in His perfect conscience refused to use such tactics!
The entire pseudo-Christian world survives by teaching doctrines of MEN, which Jesus condemned in Mark 7 and Matthew 15, among other places. They say “the church fathers taught”, or “the apostle’s creed states”, or “John Calvin said” or “my church believes”, or “we should learn from the holy traditions of the church”, and any number of other arrogant statements! If something is true, and at all relevant to salvation, it is clearly taught in the Bible. If a doctrine is not taught in the Bible, then you don’t need it – or want it. How much more clearly could God have said so than He did in Deuteronomy 12:30-32 and Revelation 22:18-19?
Arrogance is asking someone to believe you because you’re you; it’s asking them to trust you because of your office in God’s church; or because you healed them last week; or because you’re smarter than them. But all of that is meaningless! It is a sin to use who you are to try and prove that what you believe is right. Because there is no connection between the two… saints can be wrong and sinners can be inspired by God to prophesy!(1 Samuel 20:18-24). You could teach pure truth for fifty years and then one day be wrong! (1 Kings 13:11, 18). What you’ve done or taught in the past doesn’t mean you’re right today! Truth means you’re right! Facts – solid, Biblical facts – prove a point! Nothing else!
Asking you to believe me about some new doctrine because I was right about the truth about heaven and hell is arrogance. The fact that I was right before does not mean I am right now! That is why even JESUS did not say, “believe Me, because I am the King of Kings!” in fact, He said the opposite “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true” (John 5:31). Yet how many times have you heard someone far less qualified than Jesus say, “just wait until you’re my age and you’ll understand!”; is that a valid argument? Job 32:7. No, that’s an argument that their spirit is right BECAUSE of their age.
Arrogant spirits think their achievements and experience qualify them to be heard even though their arguments don’t hold water. It’s the same thing when someone says “I went to Harvard” to prove their case. Your age, your IQ, your education, even your experience mean absolutely nothing if your position is wrong! Jesus said “don’t believe Me, believe your Bible” – at least, a paraphrase of it – in John 5:39. The whole argument in John 5 is a good example of how Jesus defended His position without descending into arrogance; He never once said, “because I said so”, or “don’t you know who I am?? How dare you question me!” as so many people in authority in the world’s churches say!
…And that’s why He was meek, and they are not. Teaching someone meekly – or “restoring such a one in the spirit of meekness” – is simply approaching them with this attitude: “this is what the Bible says. Don’t believe me – believe your Bible. If you don’t want to believe it, then don’t; God is glorified whether you accept the truth, or whether you reject it” (John 10:31-38). To do any more than that shows that you don’t have faith in your own argument, for you’re willing to let it rest on your authority rather than the bedrock of fact because you don’t believe the facts alone are enough to make it stand!
This will not look meek to the world. Ironically, it looks arrogant to them, which is why they took up stones to stone the meekest Man to ever live… ironically, for arrogance! (John 10:39). Yet they were the ones who used their herd’s consensus to prove that their position was valid! One of the first scriptures arrogant people use to call truly meek people arrogant is Galatians 6:1. Yet now you can see it simply means presenting them with the facts as you see them about their alleged faults. Then hear their answers; reason with them (Acts 17:2-5).
All the while bearing in mind that your own spirit is not yet perfect, and that you may well be wrong about this! Thus, you are “considering yourself”, knowing you may be the one in error (Proverbs 25:8-12), no matter what your track record or authority!
THE SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS
To illustrate this attitude, we’ll study a textbook example of meekness; Numbers 12:3. No verse helps us understand meekness more than this one. Moses was meek – not only meek, but “meek above all men on the face of the Earth”. Let’s see how Moses handled having his God-given authority challenged. When Aaron and Miriam condemned him, what did they say?Numbers 12:1-2. The key offence was not so much criticizing Moses’ choice in women, as their statement “Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us?” Now search the context and find where Moses defended himself. It isn’t there! Because Moses was meek! How could he possibly know who else God worked with? His spirit felt they were wrong, but he couldn’t prove it so he didn’t try… He just let God defend the authority He had given him!Numbers 12:4-16.
Another example of a similar challenge is found a few chapters later in Numbers 16:1-3. Notice nearly identical phrases “Ye take too much upon you [Moses], seeing all the congregation are holy…”. Again, open rebellion against God’s chosen leader who still refused to defend himself! Now had I been Moses, I surely would have said, “Ok everyone, show of hands; who parted the Red Sea? Anyone? Ok, who saw God’s hind-quarters? Which of you talks to God face to face? Were any of you on Mt. Sinai when I got the Ten Commandments? Did any of you call down plagues on Egypt? I didn’t think so!”
I don’t hold this up as an example of what you SHOULD do, but rather as what my first instinct would have been because this is what all spirits are like by nature… arrogant! They think they’re right because they’ve been right before! All of those things I would have said were totally true… but they didn’t prove Moses was in the right this time! Rather than defending himself or his position, what did Moses do? Numbers 16:4-7. Moses could not be a witness of his own self like our spirit always wants to be! (1 Corinthians 4:3-5). So the next day he proposed they let God show whom He had chosen to lead His people.
He didn’t try to defend himself at all, but he did try to reason with them to talk them out of their rebellion, showing that God had already exalted them to do the service of the tabernacle; why did they need the priesthood as well? (1 Corinthians 4:8-11). These men continued to rebel (1 Corinthians 4:12-14), and Moses – meek above all men – GOT VERY ANGRY! (1 Corinthians 4:15). Again, meekness is the opposite of anger in the world’s eyes; but it is not only possible, but necessary, for meek men to sometimes be angry at the rebellion of the wicked! Because when the spirit of meekness isn’t working, it’s time for a rod of iron! (1 Corinthians 4:21).
But how did Moses VENT that anger? In ranting and railing at those people, as you or I might have done? By listing his accomplishments, touting his authority? No! By asking GOD to judge them for him – and reminding God that he had done nothing whatsoever to hurt these men! Not beating them with his iron paddle, but God doing it for him! (Acts 5:3-5). How that prayer affected God can be read in Numbers 16:20-22. Not only was God going to kill Korah and his fellows but the entire rebellious Israelite nation! And again Moses fell on his face, this time with Aaron, and begged for the lives of these rebellious people! Verse 22. And again God heard, and directed Moses to deal with the rebels as you read in Numbers 16:23-27.
But even here, it was vital the people know that Moses wasn’t behind this punishment! Moses was not avenging a threat to his authority! Numbers 16:28-34. He wasn’t putting down an uprising as pagan kings do. It wasn’t HIS authority that was threatened – it was God’s! (1 Samuel 8:7). Why should MOSES defend something of God’s? It was God’s authority that was challenged, so let God defend it! (Which God had to do again in this same chapter – Numbers 16:41-50 – Israelites were slow learners.) But meekness isn’t a switch you turn off and on. It’s a lifetime battle, that some days you may win better than others. Moses was meek above all men, yet in Numbers 20:7-13 Moses, clearly in a fit of anger over their continued rebellion and mistrust of his authority (Numbers 20:1-6), had an arrogant moment that kept him out of the Promised Land.
He called them rebels – a clear assertion of his own authority – then said “must WE fetch you water out of this rock”; then smote the rock twice, instead of speaking to it as God had commanded. What exactly was his sin? In particular, what part of his mind sinned? Psalms 106:32-33. They provoked his SPIRIT, which his soul failed to control! And that mistake cost him his ticket across the Jordan River, but it didn’t take away from the fact that, as a rule, Moses could be trusted to lead the people of God in meekness, trusting God to defend his authority from their challenges.
THE STORY OF PAUL
Paul’s authority was also challenged, similarly to how Korah challenged Moses. But he handled it very differently, and there’s a lot to learn from that contrast. Start in 1 Corinthians 9:3. Someone was “examining”, or criticizing Paul; from his answer, we can easily conclude people were saying Paul was just teaching for the money; and that he wasn’t a “real” apostle anyway! Go ahead and read the whole chapter first. Notice how Paul defends himself in 1 Corinthians 9:1-2. Remember how I would have responded if I were Moses? Doesn’t that remind you a little bit of these verses? “Am I not an apostle? …have I not seen Jesus Christ?” – doesn’t that remind you a little of “show of hands – who here has talked to God face-to-face?”
Paul revisits the same problem in 2 Corinthians 10:8-18, where the problem has apparently gotten worse because Paul defends it much more strongly. He plainly says here that he is going to “boast somewhat more of our authority”. But boasting of authority is a mistake in any NC context! In 2 Corinthians 11:1 he says he is being foolish because he is concerned for their salvation ( 2 Corinthians 11:2-4). Does Paul respond like Moses did? 2 Corinthians 11:5-15. Does he speak – by his own admission – as a fool? 2 Corinthians 11:16. Is what he is doing foolish, and NOT by commandment of God? 2 Corinthians 11:17. Is he glorying? 2 Corinthians 11:18.
Didn’t Paul just get through saying that people who “compare themselves among themselves” are not wise? 2 Corinthians 10:12. What does Paul do next? 2 Corinthians 11:21-23. How is that not “comparing himself” among the other apostles? – and concluding “are they apostles? I am more”. Is that “letting another man praise you… not your own lips”? (Proverbs 27:2). Is this how Moses would have handled this problem? Did Paul “fall on his face”, and say “God will show who is His apostle and who is troubling His church?” – he SHOULD have, that’s what a MEEK man would have done; but it wasn’t what he did. Instead, Paul tried to get them to believe him because he was Paul!
Paul was saying “look at all the miracles I’ve done; look at all I’ve suffered for the church; look at how hard I’ve worked; I’ve even been to heaven! So just admit that I’m right already!!” As it happens, Paul WAS right, and the church SHOULD have remembered all the things Paul had done for them; but Paul should never have said them himself! Doing so was an act of arrogance!
JESUS VS PAUL
How did Jesus respond to a nearly identical problem? John 5:31-47. Jesus was fully as frustrated by their rebellion as Paul was, but rather than “become a fool in glorying”, He concluded with the real truth – that if these people couldn’t listen to Moses’ OC laws they couldn’t obey Jesus’ NC laws! In other words, Jesus realized that these people, frustrating as they were, didn’t need to be saved today! Matthew 15:13. And so He was able to leave them in God’s hands and walk away from them without crossing the line from meekness into arrogance which Paul trod all over! Compare another set of nearly identical circumstances with the same two people in John 18:22-23 and Acts 23:2-3. They were even slapped by the SAME PERSON – the high priest! And so it’s a perfect opportunity to compare their reactions. Jesus said, “if I have done evil, show me what it is; and if not, why did you slap me?”, which is a very logical broken spirit response.
Paul, on the other hand, had a very eye-for-an-eye, unbroken-spirit response… “God shall smite you, you whited wall!” Jesus was meek. Paul wasn’t. If he were, he would have simply told the Corinthians “if I have done evil, testify of the evil; and if not, why do you criticize me?” Instead, Paul “answered a fool according to his folly”, and “became like unto him” (Proverbs 26:4). Paul realized this was foolish – he said so in practically every other verse – but he did it anyway, because he thought it would help the Corinthians. But it didn’t. A few years later, everyone in Asia (which included Corinth) had abandoned Paul (2 Timothy 1:15).
Paul did these things because he lacked faith in God’s ability to save the Corinthians who were worth saving. So he risked his own spiritual welfare to try to make a point that God would have made for him if he had just stepped back and let God defend him as Moses did! If his spirit had had enough faith in God’s competence, that’s what Paul would have done! Because THAT might have helped the people. Foolish boasting didn’t, and never will. You will never have to use the strength of your spirit’s authority to drown someone else’s spirit and if you do, their spirit will be anchored on your pebble, not on the bedrock of Christ, and will therefore be useless to God!
THE PRICE OF ARROGANCE
You have seen Moses’ meek attitude, and what does God think of meekness? 1 Peter 3:4. How old was Moses when he died? Deuteronomy 34:7. Did he die weak, blind, and crippled as most of the world has? (Same verse). Meek people suffer less in this life. Many people will inherit the Kingdom of God, but some of them suffer more than others! Some, like Stephen, die without feeling pain (Acts 7:60). Others say, “few and evil have been the days of my life” (Genesis 47:9). Because their beast had to be broken in order to break their spirit! (Proverbs 15:13).
Meek people need not suffer because their spirit is already broken. And once again, Paul proves that for us. Read 2 Corinthians 12:1. Was it a good thing for Paul to glory like he had been doing? Did Paul’s heart DESIRE to glory and boast over his visions? 2 Corinthians 12:6. Did Paul’s nature incline towards being “elevated above measure” (pride and arrogance)? 2 Corinthians 12:7. In Paul’s defence, he had greater understanding than any other NT apostle, possibly any man in history. God showed him things He had never shown ANYONE. And God worked powerful miracles through him, so any of us would have been tempted to act like Nebuchadnezzar and say “is not this a great church, which I have built!” (Daniel 4:30).
But excuses aside, Paul’s problem with arrogance remained; so God sent him a “thorn in the flesh”; what it actually was is debatable, but based on Galatians 4:15 and Galatians 6:11, Paul’s eyes may never have fully recovered from the scales in Acts 9:1-18. Regardless, it was something that made him “weak”. And in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, Paul realized after asking God repeatedly, that this thorn was there for a purpose, and his soul appreciated that purpose once he understood it. In 2 Corinthians 12:11-12 Paul summarizes by saying pretty much what I’ve said here; “I have become a fool by glorying”. Because the Corinthians ought to have appreciated and commended him, instead they falsely accused him of wanting only their money – when, ironically, he never even took money from them! (2 Corinthians 12:13).
Paul was right – they SHOULD have praised him. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram SHOULD have praised Moses. They SHOULD have respected the office and authority God gave Moses. But when they didn’t, a meek man would have let God – who gave him the authority – defend that authority. Paul on the other hand, took it upon himself and not only failed miserably to help the people, but paid a great personal price as well. Because consider this; what did Paul suffer? 2 Corinthians 11:23-28. What did Moses suffer? Deuteronomy 34:7. Do you see the difference? Paul lived through endless persecutions, on top of which he had to live with a debilitating “thorn”, probably bad eyesight. Moses died at 120 years old (likely nearly twice Paul’s age), and “his eye was not dim”. Paul was weak and sickly (2 Corinthians 10:10), but Moses’ “natural force was not abated” even at 120 years old!
Paul was a great man, but he was a man with a lot of flaws. And because of Paul’s failures to keep a lid on his arrogance, Paul had a very hard life; we can learn from his example, and that of Moses, and try to avoid as much misery as possible by breaking your own spirit so God won’t have to break it for you! Paul knew all these things intellectually, in fact we’ve learned many of them from his own letters; but you already know there’s a difference between knowing that your heart and spirit must be broken, and staying vigilant enough to never let it lead you to sin!
OTHER EXAMPLES OF MEEKNESS
David was the anointed king over Israel. Yet, despite being given repeated opportunities to kill Saul who was evil and who was sitting on David’s rightful throne, David refused to kill him because it wasn’t David’s job! (1 Samuel 24:1-15). Notice that’s exactly how Moses handled it! He let God judge between him and his enemies! David later made a bad mistake with Bathsheba, and God pronounced a punishment on him in 2 Samuel 12:10-12. Shortly thereafter, trouble between him and his son Absalom started to fester (2 Samuel 13, 2 Samuel 15) – which God stirred up to fulfill His curse. When David perceived that Absalom was stealing the kingdom, he didn’t fight him; he knew God was behind this. He left Jerusalem and fled (2 Samuel 15:13-17). What’s more, the high priest was willing to bring the Ark with David, who was, again, the rightful king; how did David respond? 2 Samuel 15:24-26.
Notice that attitude, so lacking in Paul! If David pleased God, God would bring him back to Jerusalem; and if not, well, so be it. Either way, David had no right to move the Ark from its resting place in the house of God! He would not take God’s authority hostage to his own will! Another good contrast is John and Peter. John never mentioned his own name in his books. He always referred to himself indirectly as “that disciple whom Jesus loved”, or “that other disciple”. This speaks of an attitude – if sincere – of meekness. If it’s done today, it’s usually false modesty which masks a deep pride. But in John’s case, it seems genuine.
By all accounts, John lived longer than any other apostle, suffered less, and was entrusted with gathering up the books of the NT and writing the last books of the Bible. You can see why when you compare the reactions of John and Peter when Jesus’ tomb was discovered empty. Read John 20:1-4. John wasn’t uninterested, because he outran Peter! But when he came to the tomb, John (“the other disciple”) showed restraint and respect and stopped at the door and looked in (John 20:5). What did Peter do?John 20:6-7. Only then did John go in (John 20:8). This, while of course was not a sin for Peter, was a good indication of a general attitude of rushing head long into a situation, as compared to looking before you leap.
When they are mentioned in the gospels, it’s always in the same order “Peter, James, and John” (Luke 8:51 for instance). And when you read Peter’s books, you’ll see that like Paul, he paid a price for his attitude. And this explains why Peter’s book speaks often about lessons he had to learn (for example 1 Peter 1:7, 2:19-21, 3:9-12, 14, and so on). These comments show the lessons Peter himself had to learn; lessons of meekness and humility, things he had not yet learned by the time he rushed into the tomb. A particularly glaring example is in 1 Peter 3:4. Can you picture any of Peter’s actions in the gospels as representing a “meek and quiet spirit”? That is something he had to learn, and something any of us who resemble him in spirit must learn as well.
Peter’s impetuousness was not a completely bad thing; he was, after all, the only disciple to walk on water… but like all traits, it must be “brought into captivity… to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Peter’s zealous spirit was a great asset, just like a spirited horse, but just like the horse it needed to be brought into obedience by the soul; it needed to be broken to the harness and taught meekness! Something none of us are born with, but every true Christian must die with. Remember, these were all great men, but they were men, not saints. They made mistakes, and we are fools if we don’t profit from those mistakes. They would want us to observe their flaws and save ourselves the grief those flaws brought to them. That’s why Paul told us to follow him ONLY AS he followed Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).
There is no point in ranting and boasting and speaking of your qualifications to try to convince people who just won’t listen (2 Timothy 2:25). It won’t work, and it will cost you a great deal – possibly even your ticket into the Promised Land, like it did Moses. It’s easy to get emotionally invested in people, as Paul did, and spend your life trying to drag people who don’t even like God into the Kingdom. But that’s not your job. Their choices are their business, and our job is to present them with the choice – not to see that they make the right one. If they don’t wish to learn the truth from you, let them learn it somewhere else – or not at all. That’s why there is a second resurrection!
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Ecclesiastes 7:8 (YLT) Better is the latter end of a thing than its beginning, Better is the patient of spirit, than the haughty of spirit. I can say with no fear of contradiction that you think more highly of your own spirit than you should. All creatures feel this way about their own opinions. Things that are “obviously” true to you often won’t make sense to other people. Sometimes, it will be because they’re stubborn and rebellious… or just plain stupid. More often than not, though, it will be because your opinions are nonsense. And if you get frustrated and impatient, your haughty spirit certain of its infallibility will try to use your credentials, your experience, your accomplishments, or those of others who agree with you, to prove your point – and that is arrogance. And that is the “beginning of the thing”. That is who we all are… in the beginning.
But the latter end of your life should be better than the beginning. Your spirit should learn that it is not the oracle of truth, but only a very dim reflection of it. So if you’re patient in spirit when discussing their alleged faults with other people, you’ll give them an opportunity to show you the holes in your beliefs. And that’s far better than you were in the beginning. In 1 Samuel 2:3 it says “let not arrogancy come out of your mouth”. Because arrogance happens when you correct others based on your own conscience. And the correction is not wrong – the self-assuredness is.
But arrogance is not pride, for “I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease” (Isaiah 13:11). Arrogance is something proud people say. Because pride is in the heart! And a proud heart causes an arrogant spirit to speak! The two often go hand in hand, for a proud heart will reinforce an arrogant spirit, and vice versa. Look at what Jesus prophesied would happen to Peter in John 21:17-19. This was a sobering prophecy, yet Peter’s only comment was “oh yeah? Well, what about JOHN??” (to grossly paraphrase John 21:20-22). And Jesus basically said “it’s none of your business; you have your own orders”.
Peter was given orders to feed Jesus’ sheep; he obeyed them with humility, at first, but as Jesus repeated the orders, he grew insulted and frustrated which is a matter of pride. Jesus said it three times because He knew Peter would fail to do it three times! A (much) humbler man might have realized that (I wouldn’t have, but still). But when Peter demanded “what about John, what should HE do”, that’s the spirit seeking to justify itself by comparing itself to John. By trying to see a flaw in John’s obedience that would distract from his own, or by trying to compare John’s future to find an unfairness in the prophecy of his own. And that’s an arrogant spirit.
Now read Proverbs 16:18. Most people read verses like this and think God is repeating Himself… but what He’s actually saying is that a proud heart happens before destruction, but a haughty spirit happens before a fall! Compare that to Proverbs 18:12 and Proverbs 29:23. Merging these three verses together, we see that pride of heart causes destruction and brings him low, but a low-minded spirit brings honour – while a self-important conscience will be brought low (Isaiah 2:12). Notice how that last verse says “…every one that is proud AND lofty”; these are not two words about the same thing, but describe two separate things: a heart that refuses correction, and a conscience who believes it is unassailably right!
This lesson could have been summed up in a single verse, which I’m quite sure you already knew – it’s on thousands of plaques around the world: Matthew 5:3-5 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. …Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. If people only realized it, this one verse commands them to stop keeping Christmas, Sunday, stop believing in heaven, hell, the trinity, and every other doctrine they learned from their herd, and build their house of God on the firm foundation of the word of God! The poor in spirit and the meek are the same people, for the same saints rule the Kingdom of God, and inherit the Earth! (Revelation 5:10, Daniel 7:22). Therefore, the poor in spirit ARE meek! (Galatians 6:1). Because they KNOW that their spirits are not yet perfect, (Hebrews 12:23), and argue only with reason, using only truth as their compass, and never the authority of men.