Amen.
Well, good morning church.
It's good to see you all today. If
you have your bibles,
you wanna take that out and turn to...
Matthew chapter 5. That's where we'll be at
in just a few moments.
If you have your program and you're a
note taking per and there's an outline in
there. You can take that out. If you'd
like to take some notes as we
continue.
Our series on the beat
from Matthew
chapter 5.
Well, Nicole
Machiavelli
was a renaissance,
philosopher,
politician, a writer,
His writings greatly influenced
modern
political science.
Machiavelli
believed that to be effective,
political leaders
needed to be ruthless
and tyra,
not
empathetic, and just.
He wrote a book entitled the prince, and
it is a short manual of advice
for the princes of his day on how
to not finish last.
And the ant answer was never to be
overly devoted to acting nicely
or
anything like that. But to know how to
borrow every single trick employed by the most
das
and un
and nasty people ever to have lived.
Now until Machiavelli writings, most philosophers of politics
had to defined a good leader as humble
and moral
and honest.
But Machiavelli
writing shed that notion. Notion. In fact, he
said frankly, it is better
to be feared
than loved,
you cannot have both.
Well Machiavelli
knew,
where this counter
obsession
of acting nicely
originated from.
The west
was brought up on the Christian story of
Jesus of Nazareth.
He was a very nice man.
From Galilee,
who always treated people well.
But Machiavelli
pointed out an inconvenient detail to that sentimental
tale of triumph, the triumph of goodness through
through humility.
From a practical
perspective,
Jesus life was
an outright disaster.
This gentle soul was tram to bond and
humiliated and disregard and mocked
and eventually murdered,
judged in his lifetime.
And outside of any divine assistance,
Jesus
could be considered 1 of history's
greatest losers.
But what Machiavelli
and so many others who have as scribe
to various
versions of his philosophy through the centuries,
what they failed to take into account
is that the gentle lamb
became
a lion.
We know that after the seeming
defeat of the cross, our resurrected Lord
defeated death itself and 1 day,
He will return in great power and glory
to reign over a new heaven.
The new earth.
He was exalted by the father
specifically
because of his willingness to humble
himself.
To take on the form of a servant
to operate and model
a lifestyle,
of meekness.
Well, today, we are entering into the third
message in our series that we've called a
life
that flourish is. And in this series, we
are focusing
on Jesus opening
to his most famous teaching the sermon on
the mount.
And these opening statements have been called the
beat
or the beautiful sayings.
And these radical
and shocking statements
probe,
the moral and the ethical and the
spiritual guidelines,
governing
all of God's people.
When kingdom citizens follow these guidelines,
Jesus promised
it would produce blessed ness,
which we've learned is a deep down,
abiding joy.
Not based on the circumstances
or current events of the world, but on
the truth
of god's grace and saving power.
And when we understand that we
begin to live a life
that truly
flourish.
Well, today we are coming into the third
beat attitude.
Blessed are the meek.
And before we explore this astonishing and puzzling
statement.
I'd like to read together again the entirety
of Jesus beat attitudes from Matthew cha after
5 versus 1 through tip 12. We've been
reading each week from a different English
translation after of the scriptures just to get
some different angles and views of this deep
and
important teaching. And so today, today, we're reading
from the new King James version, Matthew 5.
1 through 12. The words are on the
screen, let's read this together.
And seeing the multitudes,
Jesus went up on a mountain and when
he was seated, his disciples came to him,
then he opened his mouth and taught them
saying,
Blessed are the poor and 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.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. For
righteousness
for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the mer for they shall obtain
mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart. For they
shall see God.
Blessed are the peace
for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness
sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they rev vile and
per you and say all kinds of evil
against you falsely for my sake.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad.
For great is your reward in heaven
for so they persecuted the prophets.
Who were before you.
Amen? God's word.
And so as we enter into this passage,
Jesus
third the attitude, blessed are the meek
for they will inherit
the earth. Third That statement comes as somewhat
of a surprise.
What is so great
about being meek?
And why?
Do the meek, inherit the earth.
And part of our problem is due to
a
misunderstanding. We hear the word meek,
and we automatically think weak.
And that is because that sixteenth
century,
Machiavelli
philosophy of power
through strength is still ingrained in our 20
first century
American culture.
But when we buy into that thinking, we
could not be more wrong.
Suppose
Let's suppose that the company, the
organization that you work for. If they were
to write a description of the ideal person
to be the next... Manager or the next
Ceo.
Do you think that meekness
would be on the list?
I've never seen a job description that included
meekness as a requirement.
What about in the current?
Presidential election season in which we find ourselves.
Which candidate would garner the most vote with
the slogan.
Vote for me.
I'm meek.
What about if let's say we were
searching for a new preaching minister here at
Garden way Church.
How excited do you think the search committee
would be about a candidate who listed their
primary
leadership quality
as meekness.
You see, we don't really want
a meek person to be our leader.
We want somebody who's dynamic,
powerful,
strong,
authoritative.
And so this morning, I wanna explore together,
Jesus says counter cultural
command and promise,
concerning meekness.
For those who would live in his kingdom.
What is this meekness?
And what
does it require
of us.
And first, we will see
that true meekness
requires
strength.
Meekness
requires
strength.
1 way to define meekness
is
strength under
control.
Strength under control. We get a sense of
this, from the way this word is translated
elsewhere
in the new testament scriptures. For example, in
some English versions,
they use the word gentle
in our passage today, blessed are the gentle.
The the validity of,
validity of that translation is supported by other
bible passages Were the same word appears. For
example, in second Timothy chapter 2,
Paul
identifies meekness or gentleness as an essential quality
of leadership when he writes the lord's servant
must not quarrel.
Instead, he must be kind to everyone, able
to teach
and not resent full. Those who oppose him
he must
gently
meek
instruct.
In the hope that God will grant them
repentance
leading to a knowledge
of the truth.
You see meekness
does require strength. In fact,
to be meek in the sense that Jesus
describes here in Matthew 5 really requires supernatural
strength
It is a quality that is produced by
god
in the believer life. It's not 1 in
which we naturally generate
ourselves.
Meekness
or gentleness
is in the list of the fruit of
the spirit in galatians chapter 5 as we
think about what it looks like to represent
and live for Jesus in this world.
But what are we really talking about in
terms of behavior?
If meekness isn't just another s for weakness,
then what is it?
Well, the stereotype
of meekness is a person who has no
will of their own.
We often might think of a meek person
as someone who is just very passive.
Who cannot help but let others take advantage
of them.
But biblical,
meekness
requires
strength,
in the proverbs, the prove brighter in chapter
16 and verse 32 says, better a patient
man
than a warrior.
A man who controls his temper
than 1 who takes a city.
You see meekness
is not weakness.
A meek person is stronger than a warrior
because it takes more strength to control your
temper
than it does to storm a city or
to get into a fight. Meekness
is not weakness, and it's not pass pass
either. The meek person is
intentional,
and they are in
control.
I I mentioned that the term meekness
often
is equated with strength under control. In the
ancient world, the term,
meekness was used to describe a war horse,
A horse that had been trained to be
strong and powerful,
brave enough to enter into a bloody battle,
but also willing to submit
and stay under the control of its rider.
The Greek word for meek, Pro
was used in ancient greece to describe both
the desired temperament
of that military horse
and
the best way to handle them.
The term making a horse in old English
refers to harnessing,
a horse's power.
From a state of wild
independence
to 1 of loyalty
so that it can be used
as intended. Isn't that a great picture?
You see Friends Jesus wants his people
to move from wild
independence
to loyalty,
loyalty to him,
loyalty
to his kingdom.
Not wild
independence based on my ideas, my preferences.
So what does meekness this look like?
In the real world. And specifically, what does
it look like in the church, the body
of Christ.
Well, Paul gives us an interesting
snapshot in ephesians chapter 4. When he says,
as he writes to the church, I urge
you
I urge you to live a life worthy
of the calling that you've received, be,
completely humble and
gentle or meek.
Be
patient, bearing with 1 another in love,
And so in blunt terms, meekness means that
you and I
put up with each other.
It means that at times, we endure 1
another.
And I appreciate the scriptures honesty on this
matter. You know, on occasion, we give the
impression
that the life of the church is a
kind of utopia.
And we sometimes
get the idea that real Christians never get
annoyed with 1 another. We never get frustrated
with each other. We never get fed up
with 1 another. And friends if there's 1
thing that I've learned as a church leader
is that I can't please
everyone in my ministry. There will always be
a a handful of people who are
disappointed in my teaching or my leadership style
or our particular
ministry priorities,
or even the color of the carpets or
paint on the church building.
In reality, in any group of people,
including the local church,
someone
will always be
disgruntled.
Sometimes it's even me.
Hey, amen?
And sometimes friends, the most spiritual thing that
we can do in the church.
Is to put up with 1 another.
And it's a good thing too
because Some of us can be hard to
live with.
Just ask my wife. She'll let you know.
The emphasis
on mutual
in impulse command, bear with 1 another.
And so do you find someone around you
annoying? Hard to deal with? Guess what?
There's a high degree and likelihood that they
struggle with the same issue regarding you.
And Paul's instruction
would not be as helpful if it weren't
for the clarifying phrase at the end of
the verse.
He says we are to bear with 1
another
in
love.
Yes. Life in the body of Christ
does call for us to put up with
each other, but not in a mean
gru,
harsh spirited way.
You know, there are some who display patients
towards others in a way that
communicates
imp
or even contempt.
And that's not what Paul is writing about
here.
And it is not the meekness that Jesus
speaks of, in the third attitude. Meekness
is an attribute of strength to exercise it
I must go against the grain,
but meekness doesn't merely take strengths.
If I'm going to bear with others in
love,
I'll need to have their best interest at
heart.
And so this leads to a second
requirement for meekness.
Not only does meekness require
strength
but meekness
requires
humility.
The word that Jesus uses,
in this be attitude is often associated
with humility in the scriptures. We already saw
that in ephesians 4. Where humble and gentleness
and patience and bearing with 1 another are
all part of the same cluster of traits.
We also find this in the great
invitation of Jesus
that he gives in Matthew 11,
where our Lord says these words
come to me.
All you who are weary
and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from
me for I am
gentle
or meek.
Humble in heart,
and you will find rest
for your souls. Jesus says I am gentle,
meek, and humble.
So what is this humility?
Well, sometimes, I think the best way to
define a word or an idea is to
look at its opposite.
And, of course, the opposite of humility is
pride.
Pride. It's kinda like, remember those fun house
mirrors at the Carnival when you looked into
those and they just... Distorted your image.
That's what pride does
in our life. Pride will take some achievement
some aspect of our character,
and it will blow it out of proportion.
Pride gives us a false
view of ourselves.
Pride
inflate the few
the the the few virtue that we possess
and it makes us think that we have
others that we don't.
Pride blinds us so that we fail to
see the glaring faults
that are so often
obvious to everyone else in our life.
Pride
minimizes
the few weaknesses that we are willing
to
admit.
Well, yeah, but we say
as an excuse.
And worse yet
pride often
prompts us to put on a mask of
humility
in an attempt to disguise
that deep down,
were really selfish
and arrogant at times.
And so our Lord's
invitation in Matthew 11
is to take up the yoke of disciples
ship.
And that is grounded in the attractiveness
of this kind of humility, the humility of
Jesus,
come to me.
Jesus says.
Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me.
Well, why do we want to do that?
Because Jesus says, I
am gentle
and humble in heart.
And you will find rest
for your souls.
That is his
invitation, his win some beautiful
invitation.
There is a goodness,
A joyous
about humility. It is
compelling
as others see
humility in us
In many ways, Jan, Auto
is an unlikely
superstar.
The Lan 29 year old who has been
dubbed the Greek freak
for his stunning
athletic feat
is widely regarded as 1 of the greatest
power forwards of all time.
His professional resume is lengthy, includes being an
8 time all star in the Nba. A
2 time most valuable
player,
an Nba finals
Mvp
and an
Nba champion
with his Milwaukee bucks when they defeated the
Phoenix sons in 20 21.
But his most
distinctive attribute might not be athletic,
but his humility.
Following the buck game for victory in which
he helped preserve the win with a particularly
impressive defensive play, Yan x explained
how to keep a winning perspective
after
such a successful outing. I want you to
listen to his words that he gave to
the media that day. He said, for my
experience,
like, when I think about it, yeah I
did this, I'm so great. I scored 30.
I had 25, 10 and 10 or whatever
the stat might be. Oh, we won this
and that.
Usually,
for the next few days,
I'm gonna play very badly.
Jan
frank, elicit chuckle from the media.
As he went on to illustrate the benefit,
of staying humble.
Remember, this is a guy that has just
had the crown achievement of glory in his
profession, bestowed upon him,
and here he is lecturing the media about
how to stay humble.
Listen to his words again. When you focus
on the past,
that's your ego.
I did this.
We were able to beat this team for
to nothing.
I did this in the past.
And he says, when I focus on the
future,
it's my pride.
Yeah. Next game, I'll do this and this
and this, I'm gonna dominate.
That's my pride talking.
My goal is always to try to focus
in the moment
in the present.
And that's humility.
That's being humble.
That's not setting
expectations. That's going out there and
enjoying the game.
Those words really struck me because
they transcend
basketball.
They transcend
sport,
and they're true
of life.
You see friends, when we remain humble,
when we remain teachable,
we honor the model of Jesus.
Who emptied himself by taking on the role
of a servant.
That is meekness.
Strength under
control,
humility.
And then finally,
Number 3,
meekness
requires
acceptance.
Acceptance,
is the third characteristic
of meekness.
You know, society's perception of a meek person
who someone who is
compliant.
A person who doesn't fight, but simply accepts
things. Now to some extent, that is the
bible view as well,
Though biblical meekness
carries far
more
intention.
It's not just a passive
acceptance.
To be meek is to yield to god
to give way
to the Lord,
Meekness
is acceptance of God's word
and
cooperation with his purposes.
The apostle James helps us see what this
looks like in James chapter 1. Here's what
he says. Therefore,
get rid of all moral filth,
and the evil that is so prevalent
and humbly
or meek,
accept
the word planted in you,
which can save you.
So James says that those who are meek
or humble will
accept
God's word.
Now, clearly, there is something more here than
just merely having some factual knowledge
about god.
Those whom James is addressing, including you and
I,
already have an awareness of god's word, the
word planted in you as James says.
Now that it is planted in you, he
says
accept it
or yield to it.
So James language seems to imply that the
planting of the word does not automatically guarantee
that the word will bear fruit.
There seems to be a dimension of our
will that is involved.
Once the word is implanted,
We must welcome commit.
Open our heart to it.
That is the idea of true meekness.
Contained in James words here.
The person who is meek is not continually
seeking to defend his or her rights.
They're not always trying to protect themselves.
The meek accepting person re
self effort
in order to accept the Lord's plans and
purposes.
The person who is living in meekness
reno self
promotion as they rely on god's acceptance.
The meek person
can afford to be meek
because they have
an eternal
perspective,
a long view in mind,
and therefore,
the meek and the humble person can rest
in God.
And so friends this morning, I wanna challenge
you
wanna challenge you to do something very specific.
I want you to identify
1 area. Just 1 area of your life
where you find yourselves struggling
with accepting God's
control?
Where do you find yourself
grasping.
Or defending
or self promoting
or holding on too tightly
That's the area
that we need to release
as we accept
God's word implanted in us.
Now you see the natural fear,
the natural fear of the natural person,
apart from God's holy spirit,
that natural fear that is associated
with meekness is that well if I meek
I'll get ignored.
Or others will ride rough side rough shot
over me.
I'll I'll get tram under foot.
I'll be abused or taken advantage of.
If we don't struggle for our benefits or
our fight for our rights, who will?
Fight, fight.
That's a word of our culture.
In our culture, it seems like the strong
and the self sufficient, the over bearing, the
capable, the aggressive, the ambitious. These are the
ones that achieve success in our culture. They
occupy the elite positions, and it might cause
us to question
will the meek
really
really be blessed by God? Really?
Will they really inherit the earth because it
sure doesn't look like it to me.
But it is the word of god
that has been implanted in us, and it
is true
and therefore, we hold on to that truth.
Did you know that there are 290
different, species of pigeons in the world.
I never knew that either.
Google helped me figure that out.
But here's what's interesting.
Only 1 has adopt adapted itself to live
in the cities.
And that 1 species, which you've seen many
times I'm sure is often known as the
rock dove or the common pigeon.
And it has an amazing skill,
the ability to carry an important message
and then find its way back home. Do
you know this? Studies have suggested that these
common pigeons navigate
using human structures.
They follow the directions
as well as natural ones, they'll follow roads.
They'll follow canals and rivers.
They've even been observed in large cities going
round the roundabout
before taking the appropriate exit.
Not crazy?
These common pigeons can fly
extremely fast. They can fly up to a
hundred and 10 miles an hour.
And they can cover 700
miles in 1 single in in uninterrupted flight.
Now, there are faster birds.
But none of those birds can fly horizontally
under their own power as quickly and for
as long
as the common pigeon.
Amazing.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
pigeons became so important
because they were used as messengers, we all
heard of messenger pigeons. Right?
And during the siege of Paris in 18
70
pigeons were taken out of the city by
balloon, and then they returned carrying thousands of
letters.
Stored on micro and sewn into the tail
feathers of the pigeons.
During the first world war,
soldiers at the front, would use pigeons to
communicate with those behind the lines.
They'd send messages back to the tank commanders
when their radios fail.
During the second world war, most British bombers
carried
a pair
of pigeons in a specially designed floating cage.
And if the bomber were shot down
they would release a pigeon, bearing a message
detailing their position so that rescuers could be
sent,
to get the grounded clue after they jumped
out with their parachutes.
Major general fowler
the British army chief of signals and communications
wrote this. He said if it became necessary
immediately,
to discard every line of met and method
of communication used on the front,
except 1.
I should un
choose
the pigeon.
When the battle rages.
And everything gives way to barrage to machine
gun gunfire to gas attacks and to bombing,
it is to the pigeons
we should go.
Not amazing.
Never knew how important
pigeons were
in the history of mankind.
We'll tell you that? Story friends because in
the same way,
as a follower of Jesus Christ,
as a citizen of his kingdom
we don't necessarily need to be the fastest
or the smartest
or the most attractive
or the most powerful or the most amazing.
We are simply called
to be faithful
to be reliable
to live with strength under control
in
humility
and in full acceptance
of our lord
and his plans
and his purposes.
Be like the pigeon.
And as we do,
we will experience
the blessed ness.
The divine
joy,
and the
spiritual reality
of our inheritance
in god's kingdom.
Blessed
are the meek
for they will,
inherit.
The earth.
This is Jesus promise
to us
as we pursue
the blessed life,
the life
of bounty,
the life,
of goodness,
the life
that flourish.
Will you pray with me