Meekness is not Weakness!

This is our Sunday teaching by Leon Spence. Recorded live at our Sunday Service in Harris Academy Purley, Croydon on Sunday 28th June, 2026.
Below you can find the full talk audio, and a summary article.

Talk Summary - Meekness Is Not Weakness

Throughout history, governments and leaders have made bold promises. They rise with confidence, speak of change, and assure people that things will be different. Yet, sooner or later, their influence fades.

Jesus came differently.

He did not simply come to bring change; He came to fulfil everything God had promised from the beginning. Matthew’s Gospel helps us see this beautifully. Jesus comes out of Egypt, just as Moses led God’s people out of Egypt. Jesus passes through the waters in baptism, just as Israel passed through the waters into freedom. Jesus enters the wilderness, just as Israel wandered in the wilderness. Then, in Matthew 5, Jesus goes up a mountain to teach.

But this time, He does not go up the mountain to receive the law. He goes up to announce the blessings of the kingdom of God.

The Beatitudes are not just rules to follow. They reveal the character of people who belong to God’s kingdom. And each one comes with a promise: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

But what is meekness?

Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is strength under God’s control.

Moses helps us understand this. The Bible describes him as the most humble man on the earth, but he was not always that way. Before God transformed him, Moses acted in his own strength. He tried to bring justice by force and killed an Egyptian. Later, after encountering God at the burning bush, the same man stood before Pharaoh with courage — but now his strength was surrendered to God.

That is what God wants to form in us.

Meekness looks like listening, trusting and obeying. When anxiety tells us to fear, we listen again to God’s word: “Do not be anxious.” When anger tells us to react, we remember that God is slow to anger and rich in love. When work, ambition or pressure begin to shape our identity, we return to Jesus, who worshipped and served the Father alone.

Meekness also means we stop living as defenders of ourselves. Pride says, “I need to be right.” Humility says, “I want God to be glorified.” Pride creates conflict; humility creates intimacy — with God and with others.

Moses showed us something of meekness. But Jesus is perfect meekness. In Gethsemane, He prayed, “Abba, Father… not my will, but yours be done.” Perfect strength. Perfect surrender. Perfect intimacy.

And through His death, resurrection and the gift of His Spirit, Jesus has opened the way for us to know God as Father too.

This is the blessed life Jesus invites us into: not weakness, but strength surrendered to God.