COLLEEN TINKER | Editor, Proclamation! Magazine |
Twenty-seven years ago this coming November, Richard and I first ventured into a Christian church on a Sunday and heard Gary Inrig preaching through Ephesians. That momentous Lord’s Day began a new trajectory for us: we began to learn that reality is defined through the lens of God’s word, not through our own “experience” or cultural perceptions or even academic disciplines. Reality actually is absolute: it is Truth, and it is realized in the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
My surprise comes when I realize how many nuances of truth and reality come into focus the more I take God’s word seriously. This week I have been preparing for recording the Former Adventist Podcast with Nikki Stevenson on the passage Romans 12:3–5. This passage is not new to me—but I have realized something in a new way.
First, this is the passage:
For through the grace given to me I say to each one among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound thinking, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another—Romans 12:3–5, LSB.
As part of my preparation, I listened to S. Lewis Johnson’s sermon that included this passage, and I also read Donald Gray Barnhouse’s commentary on the verses. As they discussed the idea of not thinking more highly of oneself than one ought to think and of being given faith and gifts by God for His service, they both came to the concept of “meekness”.
I have heard our pastor say, over the years, that “meekness” is a word that means strength under restraint, like a powerful horse trained to respond to the directions of a bit and bridle controlled by someone in charge of the horse. The horse is still powerful and still equipped to do “horse things” that only it can do—but those things are now being directed and controlled for the good of the person managing the horse.
I have heard our pastor say, over the years, that “meekness” is a word that means strength under restraint, like a powerful horse trained to respond to the directions of a bit and bridle controlled by someone in charge of the horse.
Interestingly, S. Lewis Johnson also used the same metaphor to illustrate “meekness”. The context of these commentators bringing the concept of “meekness” into a discussion of Romans 12:3 is that Paul is telling true believers—those who have been born again through faith in the Lord Jesus and His atonement—to evaluate themselves appropriately. In other words, now that we know the the Lord is our life and our righteousness and the One who has authority over us, we are to recognize who we really are according to His evaluation. We do not function in a hierarchy of “specialness” within the body of Christ. We are on a level playing field at the foot of the cross.
God gives us the work He prepares in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), and we are the recipients of His grace. Those who evangelize and preach are not superior to those who administer or take care of the babies in the nursery or manage the accounting or cook for the brothers and sisters who are suffering illness or loss. We are all of equal value before Him.
What About Meekness?
I still had a bit of trouble, though, articulating to myself how “meekness” actually “works”. I could understand the the horse and bridle metaphor, but the concept still seemed a bit theoretical to me. Interestingly, Proverbs 11:2 gives us a glimpse into the sense of “meekness”:
When arrogance comes, then comes disgrace, But with the meek is wisdom.—Proverbs 11:2 LSB
The writer of this proverb is contrasting arrogance—the very attitude which Paul warns us to avoid—with meekness. He even declares that disgrace is the end-game of arrogance, while meekness is shaped by wisdom.
My “A-ha!” moment this week was Donald Gray Barnhouse’s description of Moses as illustrating a meek man. I had read that the Bible calls Moses “meek”, but I had to look up the reference for context—and it was that rather shocking story of sibling rivalry recorded in Numbers 12. Miriam and Aaron, Moses’ sister and brother, began whispering about Moses behind his back. They began to spread criticism about him, questioning whether or not he was the only one who spoke for God. “Has He not spoken through us as well?” they complained (see Num. 12:2) Then Numbers 12:3 says this:
Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.
The Hebrew word underlying “humble” is the same word that is most often translated “meek”, and in the King James Version, the verse is translated “meek” instead of “humble”. The important thing to notice, though, is that the Hebrew word specifically called Moses more anav than any man on the face of the earth.
The outcome of the story (read it all in Numbers 12) is that God struck Miriam with leprosy. Aaron, horrified, turned to Moses and repented for his actions and begged his brother not to place his and his sister’s sins on her. Moses, then, begged Yahweh to heal Miriam—and He agreed to restore Miriam—after she experienced a full seven days of exile “outside the camp” for her dishonor.
I had always believed that this passage told the truth about Moses—that he truly was meek or humble in some internal way—but I couldn’t have described this attribute in his behavior. It was Donald Gray Barnhouse who brought this attribute to life for me:
There are many who think that meekness means to force oneself to take a subordinate position before others. This is not so. Meekness is a vertical virtue, measuring self against God at every moment. It has nothing to do with the horizontal virtue that measures a man by other men, whether saved or unsaved. The Scripture tells us in Numbers that Moses was meek, more meek than any man (Num. 2:3). This meekness brought him low before God and very high before men. Moses exercised faith to accept that which God had given him and thus was enabled to stalk into Pharaoh’s court and thunder forth the judgments of God: “Thus saith the Lord, ‘Let my people go.’” This is the voice of true meekness.…This broke the arm of Egypt.
Meek Former Adventists?
I had never really thought about meekness as one’s attitude toward God, not toward other people. Yet Barnhouse opened up the application of “meekness” in a way that makes complete sense. When Paul, for example, tells us not “to think more highly” of ourselves than we ought to think, he is not primarily directing believers to evaluate their standing before other people. He is reminding us to remember who we are: new creations purchased from death by our Savior who has given us new life and new purpose by placing us in Himself!
So how does this understanding of meekness play out in real life with people who aren’t called to mediate a covenant between God and a nation? More specifically, how does meekness look among those of us who have left Adventism and find ourselves with fixed, impenetrable “walls” between us and the community we left?
I remember a day about 25 years ago. Richard and I were very fresh out of Adventism and had been holding weekly FAF Bible studies for a few months at our church on Fridays. We were getting ready for the day, and I remember Richard saying to me as he combed his hair, “I think we need to go visit *Rob James” (name has been changed).
Rob was the senior pastor of a large Adventist church in our area, and I wasn’t sure why Richard thought we should visit him.
Rob was the senior pastor of a large Adventist church in our area, and I wasn’t sure why Richard thought we should visit him.
“He will hear about FAF, and I think we should tell him why we left Adventism and tell him why we are holding weekly Bible studies for former Adventists. We need him to know first-hand that we’re not just a ‘support group’ for questioning Adventists to share their bad experiences and criticize Adventism. We’re here to help people know the gospel of the Lord Jesus and help them become grounded in the Bible.”
When he put it that way, I knew he was right. We had to see him—and I realized that Richard was responding to the Lord’s leading.
That meeting I will never forget. We knew Rob superficially, so we weren’t strangers—and he did know we had left Adventism and were holding FAF meetings at our church.
Richard explained to him that when we realized the truth of the gospel—that the Lord Jesus had already completed the atonement and had done everything necessary for our salvation—when we trusted Him and were born again, we realized that we would be betraying Jesus to remain in Adventism and to appear to support it. We couldn’t stay “to make a difference” because Adventism was founded on a fundamentally different reality than Christianity.
Richard continued by telling him about our FAF Bible studies, explaining that we were going through New Testament epistles verse-by-verse, in context, taking time to address questions and to help questioning Adventists become grounded in biblical truth and in trusting the Lord Jesus. He explained that we weren’t a group commiserating about Adventism or our experiences but that we existed to help those struggling to become firmly rooted in reality and the gospel.
He even said to Rob, “You are invited to come and check us out anytime. We’d love to have you visit our study and see for yourself what we’re doing.”
Interestingly, Rob was gracious to us. In fact, he seemed moved as Richard and I talked about understanding the gospel and the transforming change it had made in our lives. I knew that what we were saying was not “new information” to Rob. He had an advanced degree in theology from an evangelical seminary as well as his degrees from Andrews University and other Adventist schools, and he had a reputation as a “gospel Adventist”. Yet he had a position and a reputation to protect.
I was surprised at the responsiveness we felt from Rob as we talked, and he thanked Richard for the invitation to visit FAF. Then came the moment that shocked us. The conversation was ending, and, as is typical when one visits a pastor, Rob suggested that we pray. Then he looked at Richard and said, “Richard, will you please pray?”
Generally pastors pray for those coming to them—and in this case, we were appealing to an Adventist pastor to trust the true gospel of the true Jesus because knowing Him had changed us and had propelled us OUT of Adventism. Yet Rob deferred to Richard at that last moment and asked him to pray!
Richard prayed for Rob and for his church, and I will never forget that he prayed that the Lord would bless Rob’s ministry, that his church would become known throughout the Inland Empire as a church where the true gospel was preached and where the Lord Jesus would be glorified. There was no doubt about what Richard was praying: he was asking the Lord to give Rob the courage to choose to trust Jesus alone instead of protecting his high-profile denominational position—and that he would teach his church the truth instead of protecting Adventism.
When Richard said, “Amen,” we looked across the desk at Rob, and he was on the verge of crying. His eyes were filled with tears, and he was struggling to control them. His voice was full of emotion as he thanked us for coming and shook our hands as we stood up to leave.
That was the last time we had a personal encounter with Rob.
Meekness As Obedience To Speak
In the intervening years, many people have passed through FAF—some sincerely embracing the true Jesus, and some who came from curiosity. Some grabbed ahold of the gospel and the freedom they found in Jesus’ finished work and became true evangelists to the people in their lives. Some came with convicted consciences but without the willingness to give up what compromised them. Some came with intense anger at the deception Adventism had perpetrated on them—and some of those went back into the local Adventist church and discharged their vitriol on Adventists they knew including Rob.
…just as Adventism is a deception masquerading as Christian, that same foundation of deception works to discredit the gospel which defines the foundation of FAF.
We suspect that many more rumors and assumptions and criticisms of FAF have been promulgated among the Adventist community next to us than we can possibly know. We also know that just as Adventism is a deception masquerading as Christian, that same foundation of deception works to discredit the gospel which defines the foundation of FAF. What better way to obscure the reason so many people have left and continue to leave Adventism for the true gospel of the Lord Jesus than to perpetrate the notion that former Adventists are destructive and deceptive themselves?
Rob never visited FAF, nor did he ever reach out to us again. His sermons have never taught the depravity of each of us nor the need for each person to repent and believe in the finished atonement of the Lord Jesus. He continues to be loyal to Adventism and to its worldview although he uses Christian-sounding words to soothe his congregation. Even more, to our dismay, he began to use Ellen White quotes in every sermon—something he had once told one of his staff that he would never do.
Yet I also know this: the Lord knows. No person’s story is finished before the Lord ushers him or her into eternity. Ultimately we trust God with every person He brings into our lives.
Now, after reading Donald Gray Barnhouse’s explanation of meekness being a vertical humility that places one in a position willing to do the work the Lord assigns, I look back on that day and realize I watched true meekness in action. Richard knew we had to visit Rob—but he had no idea how that visit would transpire. He had no idea that he would not leave until he had both challenged that Adventist pastor to understand why Adventists were leaving their religion and to preach the true gospel boldly in his large Adventist community. He had no idea he would be asked to pray for that pastor who was clearly convicted in that moment.
God’s work cannot be thwarted. What He says, He does—and He sends us who know Him to physically carry out His work in our physical world. It is our privilege as born-again children of the Father to present ourselves to Him as living sacrifices—and like Moses to go where He leads and to say what He leads us to say. We entrust the outcomes to Him knowing, as the Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”—Matthew 5:5 KJV †
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