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Formerly Sabbath School Leadership, LEAD is a quarterly magazine to bring more power and polish to your Sabbath School programs and Sabbath School teaching.
 Listen to the Sabbath School Theme Music for this Quarter
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02.27.10: The Fruit-Meekness 
Cultural Context
We live in an aggressive, dog-eat-dog environment in which the proud and arrogant seem to thrive and are portrayed as steamrollers on their way to the top. The pretentious, egotistical, and conceited are looked upon as the movers and shakers in society. In contrast, meekness is perceived as weakness, an attribute particularly undesirable for the ambitious.
Necessary Background/Further Resources
• The Desire of Ages, chapters 9, 16, 34
Preparation
Read the chapters in The Desire of Ages listed above. Compare the two characteristics of Jesus: meekness and strength.
Point of Contact
Questions
• Why is meekness in sports heroes and politicians considered weakness by society?
• What meek individuals has the world acknowledged as being successful?
Points of Conversation
Read Isaiah 53. How does this passage describe the meekness and lowliness of Christ in the plan of salvation?
Questions
• Why was the Messiah to subject Himself to such treatment?
• Was it weakness or strength that Christ portrayed in the plan of redemption? What does this tell us about the nature of meekness in the Bible?
• Are there times in your experience when it is right to give up your personal rights? How do you know when it is appropriate to do so?
Read John 2:12-22. Christ shows incredible resolve and aggressiveness in cleansing the Temple.
Questions
• What made the aggressiveness of Christ appropriate in the passage?
• Compare this passage with Isaiah 53. What made the difference in those situations?
• What is the difference between standing up for God and standing up for one’s self?
• Is meekness most difficult to practice when self is on the line or when the name of God is on the line?
Read Matthew 11:29.
Questions
• What is the relationship between meekness and the rest that Christ talks about?
• Why do you think that we must bear Christ’s yoke in order to have rest?
• Why does meekness give us a sense of peace?
Parting Thought
So are Christians to be these malleable, spineless invertebrates who morph to every whim of our unsanctified counterparts? Why/why not?
What are the Christian’s goals and, therefore, the weapons?
I must admit that when it comes to God’s rights it’s easier for me to compromise. But when it comes to someone crossing into what is rightfully my right, it’s tough for me to give an inch. Christ gives us meekness so that we can have rest from worrying about defending ourselves. If we stand for Him, He promises to stand for us.
“It is the love of self that destroys our peace. While self is all alive, we stand ready continually to guard it from mortification and insult; but when we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God, we shall not take neglects or slights to heart. We shall be deaf to reproach and blind to scorn and insult” (Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 16).
Jesus is the perfect pattern. He's the epitome of balance. While “giving up” His personal rights, Christ unflinchingly stood for truth. What an example to follow! Meekness requires strength, because it isn’t our second nature. Meekness requires the subjugation of our personal rights for the glory of God, letting go of our agendas so that God’s agenda may succeed.
Reach Out (Buzz words are bolded.)
Pray for the meekness of Christ, using this model: “The meekness of Christ, manifested in the home, will make [you] happy; it provokes no quarrel, gives back no angry answer, but soothes the irritated temper and diffuses a gentleness that is felt by all within its charmed circle. Wherever cherished, it makes the families of earth a part of the one great family above” (Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pp. 16, 17).
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