Meek and Mighty (Matthew 5:1-12)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:04.639 Our scripture eating this morning comes from the Mat Gospel, according to Matthew, 2 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:10.029 from the first chapter, our fifth chapter, the first through twelve verses. 3 00:00:11.029 --> 00:00:16.230 It's the beattitudes. Matthew, Chapter Five, verses one to twelve. This 4 00:00:16.390 --> 00:00:21.460 is the word of the Lord and, seeing the multitudes, he went up 5 00:00:21.500 --> 00:00:24.620 on a mountain and when he was seated, his disciples came to him. 6 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:29.379 Then he opened his mouth and taught them, saying blessed are the poor in 7 00:00:29.539 --> 00:00:34.219 spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, 8 00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:38.770 for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall 9 00:00:38.810 --> 00:00:43.929 inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for 10 00:00:44.049 --> 00:00:49.090 they shall be filled. Blessed are the Merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 11 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:54.560 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed 12 00:00:54.600 --> 00:00:59.359 are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called Sons of God. Blessed are 13 00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:03.040 those who are persecuted for Righteousness Sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 14 00:01:03.950 --> 00:01:07.590 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all manner of 15 00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:12.269 evil against you falsely. From my sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, 16 00:01:12.909 --> 00:01:18.980 for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who 17 00:01:19.019 --> 00:01:23.379 are before you. Thus far this reading of God's holy word, the grass 18 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:26.819 withers and the flower fades, but the word of our Lord endeures forever. 19 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:38.969 Please be seated well. This week we're continuing our little study of the beatitudes. 20 00:01:40.569 --> 00:01:44.409 We have eight beatitudes and I had three weeks in a row to preach 21 00:01:44.530 --> 00:01:47.840 to y'all, so I thought I would start on that. If you're looking 22 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:51.159 for a continuation, I have no idea when, after this week, that 23 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:53.879 may be, but if and when I'm ever asked to preach again, I'll 24 00:01:53.920 --> 00:02:00.319 probably pick up where the fourth beatitude. But today we're looking at the third 25 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:07.349 beatitude. Now, the beatitudes are Jesus's introduction to the sermon on the mount 26 00:02:07.510 --> 00:02:10.949 which, of course, is his longest recorded sermon, his greatest sermon, 27 00:02:13.069 --> 00:02:16.060 and as we've been looking at these beatitudes, we've said the last two weeks 28 00:02:16.139 --> 00:02:22.939 that Jesus purposefully opens up this greatest sermon of his with some things that were 29 00:02:22.979 --> 00:02:27.860 designed to immediately grab the attention of the people who were there to hear him 30 00:02:28.939 --> 00:02:32.530 and that's because the read way he does that is with these eight phrases, 31 00:02:32.650 --> 00:02:39.409 these eight beatitudes, that each of which is incredibly counterintuitive, each of them 32 00:02:39.810 --> 00:02:45.960 is very unexpected and I think as result, they grab our attention. Now 33 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:50.800 we've also noted that the word be attitude simply means blessing, but we don't 34 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:53.360 really know what that word means in English either. So the word blessed, 35 00:02:53.439 --> 00:03:00.069 said in the Greek language, means basically happy, or even supremely happy. 36 00:03:00.310 --> 00:03:06.830 And so Jesus begins this longest sermon of his by telling US crazy things like 37 00:03:07.509 --> 00:03:15.460 supremely happy, are the spiritually destitute, happy? Are The sad? Happy? 38 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:22.139 Are The meek? Even happy are the persecuted. And by beginning this 39 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:24.500 sermon this way, by saying stuff which, on the face of it, 40 00:03:24.740 --> 00:03:32.129 sounds crazy, he's grabbing the attention of his listeners because he wants them, 41 00:03:32.409 --> 00:03:37.930 he wants us to change the way that we look at our lives, the 42 00:03:38.050 --> 00:03:45.159 way that we think about what life should be, what is the good in 43 00:03:45.319 --> 00:03:52.120 life? And I've also noted that Jesus is describing here a process, a 44 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:58.750 process of growth in grace. Each of these be attitudes builds upon the one 45 00:03:58.870 --> 00:04:04.270 that comes before it if they describe a process of heart and thought change that 46 00:04:04.389 --> 00:04:10.180 goes through the hearts and the minds of God's people as we grow in grace 47 00:04:10.340 --> 00:04:14.900 with him. And of course, the foundational be attitude was to be poor 48 00:04:15.060 --> 00:04:20.540 in spirit, that is, to recognize your spiritual poverty and become a spirit 49 00:04:20.660 --> 00:04:28.689 rtual beggar waiting at God's doorstep. The second beattitude is to recognize that God 50 00:04:29.089 --> 00:04:34.129 allows suffering and sorrow to come into our lives in order to make us happy. 51 00:04:35.649 --> 00:04:41.120 And he allows suffering and sorrow to come in our lives because it drives 52 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:46.199 us to let go of the things that we hold on to in this life 53 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:51.680 for happiness, so that we can then receive the comfort in the joy that 54 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:57.069 he has for us. And now, this week we see the next step 55 00:04:57.389 --> 00:05:00.029 in this process of becoming a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, and that 56 00:05:00.149 --> 00:05:04.310 is to become meek, for then, Jesus says, we shall inherit the 57 00:05:04.389 --> 00:05:10.300 earth. And so I want us to look at this be attitude this morning 58 00:05:10.339 --> 00:05:15.379 in two parts. First, I'd like us to consider Jesus has promise that 59 00:05:15.459 --> 00:05:18.500 we shall inherit the earth, and second, I'd like us to see what 60 00:05:18.540 --> 00:05:25.490 it means to be meek. So first the land, second the meek. 61 00:05:27.050 --> 00:05:30.129 So rather than taking the first things first, I thought it would make more 62 00:05:30.170 --> 00:05:34.649 sense to take second things first and first thing second. And when Jesus begins 63 00:05:34.759 --> 00:05:41.279 this be attitude, he says, blessed are the meek, for they shall 64 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:46.120 inherit the earth. Now, even though I think most people just read over 65 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:53.269 that second part of the be attitude, it isn't a throwaway line. See, 66 00:05:53.310 --> 00:06:00.110 when Jesus is talking about inheriting the Earth, he's referencing an exceptionally important 67 00:06:00.149 --> 00:06:04.579 biblical concept or theme. When Jesus says this, he's picking up a theme 68 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:10.819 that runs throughout the entirety of the Bible, and the theme is the theme 69 00:06:11.220 --> 00:06:17.300 of the land or the Earth, as the inheritance of God's people. And 70 00:06:17.379 --> 00:06:23.449 when we see this theme of the land running through scripture, it it's intended 71 00:06:23.649 --> 00:06:30.529 to resonate with a deep yearning in our hearts. And that's because each of 72 00:06:30.730 --> 00:06:35.319 us has a yearning. Each of us has a very deep seated, just 73 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:45.120 fundamental longing for place. Each of us has a yearning for a place that 74 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:48.949 will be our home, a place of peace, a place of safety, 75 00:06:49.029 --> 00:06:57.589 a place of beauty, and the reason that we have that longing is that 76 00:06:57.750 --> 00:07:00.939 God has written it into the depths of our hearts. And he's done that 77 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:09.379 because we were made to live in the place that we long for. We 78 00:07:09.459 --> 00:07:13.740 were made, that is, to live in Eden. We weren't made to 79 00:07:13.860 --> 00:07:18.730 live in this broken, miserable, terrible world that we live in. We 80 00:07:18.810 --> 00:07:27.209 were made to live in the garden of Eden. Ever since our first parents 81 00:07:27.250 --> 00:07:32.360 sinned against God and we're banished from Evil Eden, we've been yearning with homesickness 82 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:38.720 for that lost home, that lost peace, that lost beauty, that lost 83 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:44.509 safety. In fact, if you stop and think about it, most of 84 00:07:44.670 --> 00:07:49.709 our deepest yearnings and desires and longings reflect something about how we were made, 85 00:07:50.670 --> 00:07:58.620 don't they? I mean, we were made from the start to need God. 86 00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:03.459 He made us to need his daily provision, to need his sufficiency. 87 00:08:03.860 --> 00:08:09.100 God made us to be in a relationship with him and to live in relationship 88 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:16.170 with him in an unfallen world. And so all of the deep longings and 89 00:08:16.290 --> 00:08:22.610 yearnings of our hearts, well, you can think of them as as sockets, 90 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:28.399 and their sockets that need to be filled with God's provision and his presence. 91 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:33.679 And we've all seen children playing with the round the peg thing, where 92 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:37.320 you've got the round hole and you have to put around peg in it or 93 00:08:37.399 --> 00:08:39.919 you have a square hole and you have to put a square peg in it. 94 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:43.509 And we're all familiar with the saying that you know someone is like a 95 00:08:43.870 --> 00:08:52.190 square peg in a round hole. Well, we as people were made with 96 00:08:52.429 --> 00:08:56.379 hearts that, if you think about it, are round holes, but we're 97 00:08:56.500 --> 00:09:03.620 surrounded by a world of square pegs. But all the while, God intended 98 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:09.090 to have the holes in our hearts filled with his love. We have round 99 00:09:09.610 --> 00:09:13.529 holes in our hearts. He has round pegs. If you think about it, 100 00:09:13.769 --> 00:09:22.690 nothing else will satisfy. As we said last week, we all mourn 101 00:09:22.809 --> 00:09:26.480 the loss of Eden. We mourn the loss of our home and purpose and 102 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:33.120 peace that living in God's unfallen world would bring. But what we do? 103 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.879 Instead of looking for God's round peg, for the round hole in our soul, 104 00:09:37.750 --> 00:09:43.549 we all try to fill it by hammering in these square pegs of sin. 105 00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:50.149 But though we try so very hard to fill these holes in our hearts 106 00:09:50.190 --> 00:09:58.740 with sin, at some point each of us realizes that we cannot find Eden 107 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:03.940 here or in our sinful desires. But nevertheless, the Good News, the 108 00:10:05.100 --> 00:10:11.409 Gospel News is that all of our most, I should say, maybe not 109 00:10:11.490 --> 00:10:16.169 all, but most of our sinful desires are rooted, that is, most 110 00:10:16.210 --> 00:10:24.399 of our sinful desires have their basis in a longing for the legitimate joys of 111 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:31.519 Eden. If you think about it, you were made for the things that 112 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:37.629 you long for, just not the way you long for them. For example, 113 00:10:37.870 --> 00:10:43.750 take the sin of lust. Lust is rooted in a deep longing for 114 00:10:43.870 --> 00:10:50.460 intimacy. We all need to be loved and known and cared for it the 115 00:10:50.539 --> 00:10:56.419 most intimate of heart levels, and that's because God made us to be loved 116 00:10:56.460 --> 00:11:05.809 and known intimately by himself. But humanity and each of us has debase that 117 00:11:05.970 --> 00:11:11.129 wholesome yearning for enimacy into a sin that will consume and destroy our hearts. 118 00:11:13.769 --> 00:11:18.600 Or take the sin of greed or covetousness. We were made to be provided 119 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:24.759 for and watched over and taken care of, and that's because God made us 120 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:31.960 to be cared for by his own hand in Eden. But we have debased 121 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:37.429 that yearning and provision, or for provision, into a greediness and covetousness that 122 00:11:37.470 --> 00:11:45.950 bulldoze is anyone who gets in our way. Or take the related sins of 123 00:11:46.190 --> 00:11:52.340 drunkenness or addiction, or abuse of video games or obsession with screens, whatever 124 00:11:52.379 --> 00:12:00.100 it is that we may use to check out and find relief. God desires, 125 00:12:00.659 --> 00:12:05.330 in fact commands, that we be free of anxiety and fear. He 126 00:12:05.490 --> 00:12:09.250 wants us to be safe at home with him. But when we seek to 127 00:12:09.490 --> 00:12:16.159 find freedom from worry or from the often overwhelming stress of life in some distracting 128 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:22.840 of addiction or obsession, we lose ourselves and we waste our lives and vanity. 129 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:30.870 But no matter how we chase the dream, no matter how we worship 130 00:12:31.350 --> 00:12:35.710 these idols, we are all faced with the futility of it all. It 131 00:12:35.909 --> 00:12:41.389 is futile. We are all faced with the inescapable fact that none of these 132 00:12:41.669 --> 00:12:52.379 things will recover our lost home. We long for life in Eden, free 133 00:12:52.500 --> 00:12:56.220 from the sin or from sin, free from the curse, free from the 134 00:12:56.259 --> 00:13:03.250 pains of this life and the realization of sins futility coupled with that yearning for 135 00:13:03.490 --> 00:13:07.649 home and for peace and for beauty, that is a gift from God. 136 00:13:07.929 --> 00:13:13.840 That feeling of emptiness is a gift from God because it points you to something 137 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:22.559 greater that he offers. That realization points us, namely to Christ and to 138 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:31.149 his covenant promises. And throughout the Old Testament we see God making Covenant Promises 139 00:13:31.230 --> 00:13:37.309 From The beginning to address this yearning we have, and perhaps the greatest of 140 00:13:37.389 --> 00:13:45.580 those is the promise of the land. We see in the lives of Abraham 141 00:13:45.700 --> 00:13:50.779 and of his descendants that God promises to give his people a home, a 142 00:13:50.940 --> 00:13:54.539 place of peace and beauty. In the book of Exodus, the Lord said 143 00:13:54.620 --> 00:14:00.570 this. I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, 144 00:14:00.610 --> 00:14:03.529 and I have heard their crime because of their task masters, for I 145 00:14:03.850 --> 00:14:09.330 know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the 146 00:14:09.409 --> 00:14:13.360 hands of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good 147 00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:16.679 in a large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. He 148 00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:22.159 goes on. He says it's a land of large and beautiful cities which you 149 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:26.110 did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not 150 00:14:26.309 --> 00:14:31.669 fill, hue out wells which you did not dig, and vineyards and Olive 151 00:14:31.750 --> 00:14:39.259 Tree which you did not plant. So he sets this promise before them and 152 00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:48.620 then God wet his people's appetite for that promise through hundreds of years of slavery 153 00:14:48.700 --> 00:14:54.690 in Egypt and all the while that they labored in bondage to Faraoh, they 154 00:14:54.809 --> 00:14:58.330 yearned and longed for that land. To put it in the context of the 155 00:14:58.370 --> 00:15:05.850 preceding be attitude, they mourned for the comfort of God's promised provision. And 156 00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:13.360 in fact, to this day the Jews still vainly hope for the promise of 157 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:18.200 the land of Palestine. In fact, the number one daily newspaper in Israel 158 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:24.429 is arets, which is Hebrew for the land. And yet as great as 159 00:15:24.549 --> 00:15:28.509 the promise of the land was, it was just a type or a shadow 160 00:15:28.750 --> 00:15:35.299 of the Greater Covenant Promise of a Land for God's people. And what is 161 00:15:35.419 --> 00:15:43.019 that greater promise? The Greater Hope of the Gospel is the removal of the 162 00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:52.129 curse, the end of the fall and the restoration of the entire world as 163 00:15:52.289 --> 00:15:58.730 renewed Eden. And the Gospel hope is that, because God loves each of 164 00:15:58.850 --> 00:16:06.480 us so very much, Jesus came to remove the cause of the fall. 165 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:15.799 Jesus has taken from his people every last stain of sin from our hearts and 166 00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:21.029 he's already begun the work of restoring heaven to Earth, starting with the renewal 167 00:16:21.190 --> 00:16:26.789 of his people and moving outward. And we, as his people, know 168 00:16:27.669 --> 00:16:32.429 that he is in the business of doing this, because we know that Christ 169 00:16:32.710 --> 00:16:37.620 is king. He is king now, and he sits at the right hand 170 00:16:37.779 --> 00:16:45.740 of Majesty on High and he rules and reigns over all of creation. This 171 00:16:45.059 --> 00:16:51.769 is why Jesus, when he came preaching, started out by saying repent, 172 00:16:52.409 --> 00:16:59.250 for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He doesn't say it awaits the 173 00:16:59.450 --> 00:17:03.080 pine and they are the pie in the sky and the by and by. 174 00:17:03.079 --> 00:17:07.599 He doesn't say it's going to happen after wise, says the Kingdom of Heaven 175 00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:12.559 is at hand, you can touch it. In Christ, Eden is even 176 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:19.589 now being restored to us, and though this earth is still in rebellion against 177 00:17:19.630 --> 00:17:27.789 its rightful king, we know that Jesus is king now and that someday, 178 00:17:29.069 --> 00:17:33.980 soon and very soon, he will return and put it into our Petty Rebellion 179 00:17:34.900 --> 00:17:44.609 and Vindicate His Faithful People and Restore Eden to Earth perfectly and forever. And 180 00:17:44.849 --> 00:17:48.450 Jesus, here in this be attitude, wants us to know what sort of 181 00:17:48.650 --> 00:17:55.289 people will inherit his renewed Earth, as he says here in Matthew. The 182 00:17:55.369 --> 00:18:00.759 people who will inherit it. Are the meek blessed, or the meek, 183 00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:07.440 he says, for they shall inherit the earth. Now, when I pulled 184 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:14.990 out my English the Saurus and I looked up the word meek, it said 185 00:18:15.069 --> 00:18:22.109 that synonyms for Meek are gentle, compliant, docile, unassertive, weak, 186 00:18:22.269 --> 00:18:32.099 need mild and obedient, and the Greek word for meek can mean humble or 187 00:18:32.259 --> 00:18:37.220 gentle. One one commentator describes this word here. He says it can be 188 00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:42.650 translated as mild or soft and that it was sometimes used to refer to a 189 00:18:42.809 --> 00:18:51.049 soothing salve or to a general breeze. Now, I don't know about you 190 00:18:51.170 --> 00:18:57.599 all, but that doesn't sound very inspiring. Doesn't to be docile and mild. 191 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:03.799 It doesn't get me very interested in being meek. I don't. I 192 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:06.880 don't know about you all. Maybe that really lights your fire. I can't 193 00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:11.910 wait to be weak, kneat and doscile. But what if I told you 194 00:19:12.710 --> 00:19:18.309 that there are other uses of that word in Greek, other applications, and 195 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:22.309 one of the ones that's very interesting. are a couple of them. One 196 00:19:22.750 --> 00:19:26.099 is that it can be used to refer to an army and then it can 197 00:19:26.140 --> 00:19:33.339 be used to refer to a stallion. Now, in Greek history it's recorded 198 00:19:33.420 --> 00:19:41.210 that the Persian emperor's xerxes calmed his troops before a battle. Now, the 199 00:19:41.329 --> 00:19:45.450 word that is used there is our word here, meek. Literally, the 200 00:19:45.569 --> 00:19:52.799 Greek history says that xerk sees the Great Emperor Meek afide his troops before going 201 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:59.960 forth to slaughter his enemies. So a world conquering army can be referred to 202 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:07.710 as meek, and it can also be used to refer to the demeanor of 203 00:20:07.829 --> 00:20:15.269 a stallion that has been broken to human use. It's a dangerous wild animal 204 00:20:15.150 --> 00:20:19.589 who hasn't had his strength from moved, but who has had his strength turned 205 00:20:19.750 --> 00:20:23.220 to his master's will. I I brought this here because I want to read 206 00:20:23.259 --> 00:20:27.500 y'all just a little paragraph. Is A book, and in this book this 207 00:20:27.619 --> 00:20:33.019 fellows describing what it means to be meek, and he's talking here about horses. 208 00:20:33.099 --> 00:20:37.410 He says if you've spend any time around horses, you know a stallion 209 00:20:37.609 --> 00:20:44.170 can be a major problem. They're strong, very strong, and they've got 210 00:20:44.210 --> 00:20:48.849 a mind of their own. Stallions typically don't like to be bridled and they 211 00:20:48.890 --> 00:20:53.000 can be downright aggressive, especially if they're mares around. A stallion is hard 212 00:20:53.079 --> 00:20:57.240 to tame. If you want a safer, quieter animal, there's an easy 213 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:03.160 solution. CASTRATE him. A gelding is much more compliant. You can lead 214 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:07.349 him around by the nose. He'll do what he's told without putting up a 215 00:21:07.470 --> 00:21:14.230 fuss. There's only one problem. Geldings don't give life. They can't come 216 00:21:14.509 --> 00:21:18.980 through for you the way a stallion can. A stallion is dangerous all right, 217 00:21:18.700 --> 00:21:22.700 but if you want the life he are the offers, you have to 218 00:21:22.819 --> 00:21:29.259 have the danger too. They go together. See, I think that we 219 00:21:29.420 --> 00:21:34.410 often get the idea that meek in scripture means something along the lines of gelded. 220 00:21:37.930 --> 00:21:40.569 In fact, I think that's one reason that a lot of men aren't 221 00:21:40.569 --> 00:21:44.170 interested in church in our cultures. They think they have to pretty much be 222 00:21:44.369 --> 00:21:51.160 gelded to be good Christians. But but the reality is that the word Meek 223 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:56.039 does not refer to a gelding. It refers to a person who is powerful, 224 00:21:56.839 --> 00:22:03.630 strong and dangerous even, but whose strength is under the control of a 225 00:22:03.829 --> 00:22:10.430 master who is bent it to his will. Now we often get the idea 226 00:22:11.109 --> 00:22:15.940 that those who inherit the earth are not those who are meek. You know, 227 00:22:15.019 --> 00:22:18.940 we look around the world around us and and we think that that those 228 00:22:19.339 --> 00:22:23.819 who are powerful, those who are at successful in this world, will inherit 229 00:22:25.180 --> 00:22:29.940 the earth because their power is bent to their own will and to the achievement 230 00:22:29.980 --> 00:22:36.809 of their own desires. We think of the type A personalities, the people 231 00:22:37.130 --> 00:22:41.089 who see what they want and they go for it, the aggressive, the 232 00:22:41.450 --> 00:22:49.599 the assertive, the hard charging personalities. But it's interesting, I think, 233 00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:56.519 that when scripture uses the word Meek as applied to people, it's used in 234 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:03.069 the same way that it's used of the stallion. It's not used of the 235 00:23:03.230 --> 00:23:11.829 hard charging people who bulldos others. The meat person is someone who is strong, 236 00:23:12.420 --> 00:23:19.900 but someone who is strong in enough to bridle and channel his strength in 237 00:23:21.019 --> 00:23:29.690 order to be gentle of spirit, submissive, quiet and tenderhearted. meetness is 238 00:23:29.890 --> 00:23:38.130 not weakness, it is rather power and strength under the control of God, 239 00:23:38.329 --> 00:23:42.839 the Holy Spirit. Let me say that again, because we need to be 240 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:52.359 disabused of this notion. MEEKNESS is not weakness, it is rather strength and 241 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:56.150 power under the control of God, the Holy Spirit. It is the strength 242 00:23:57.349 --> 00:24:04.710 to endure scorn and abuse with grace and long suffering. It is the courage 243 00:24:06.910 --> 00:24:11.500 to face your fears knowing that the Lords, your God, is with you. 244 00:24:11.660 --> 00:24:17.980 It is the ability to channel your passions and to commit your anger, 245 00:24:18.099 --> 00:24:22.859 your rage, to the God who says vengeance is mine, I will repay. 246 00:24:25.529 --> 00:24:30.049 It is the power to change the world around you through the imitation of 247 00:24:30.170 --> 00:24:37.920 Christ. That's what meetness is, and this is only possible because we know 248 00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:45.720 that through Christ we have the sure promis that all of those yearnings of our 249 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:52.319 hearts have their yes and Amen, and Jesus has covenant promises. MEEKNESS is 250 00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:56.750 possible because in Christ we know that we have our sufficiency, our provision, 251 00:24:57.150 --> 00:25:04.589 our peace and our home. In Christ we have the sure promise of Eden, 252 00:25:06.309 --> 00:25:11.940 the confidence of his imminent return and glory to give us his kingdom, 253 00:25:11.980 --> 00:25:17.900 and all of these covenant promises, the ones I rattled off last week, 254 00:25:17.940 --> 00:25:25.009 it any covenant promise you may find in scripture. These promises free us from 255 00:25:25.130 --> 00:25:30.609 seeking eat and our own terms. They free us from seeking him through the 256 00:25:30.730 --> 00:25:37.039 bending of our strength to our own will, and it frees us to be 257 00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:42.960 meek. And that meekness comes rather easily to us as we become more and 258 00:25:44.119 --> 00:25:48.799 more convinced in our hearts that Jesus is kingdom and his new home for us. 259 00:25:49.829 --> 00:25:56.109 Isn't some vague promise that we read about in some fairy tale, but 260 00:25:56.269 --> 00:26:04.500 that the kingdom is already present and powerful in the here and now. And 261 00:26:04.740 --> 00:26:12.339 Meek. In addition to all of that, it can mean easygoing, not 262 00:26:12.539 --> 00:26:19.049 easily offended. Consider it. It refers to someone who is poor in spirit. 263 00:26:21.529 --> 00:26:25.250 It's someone who no longer seeks his own rights or his own due, 264 00:26:26.569 --> 00:26:32.009 but someone who is so sure of Christ's sufficiency that he's able to let go 265 00:26:32.250 --> 00:26:37.279 of the worries of his heart and his obsession with taking care of himself for 266 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:44.240 herself. It liberates us to stop thinking about what we think is best for 267 00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:48.829 our lives. meekness refers to a person who seeks to be faithful to God 268 00:26:49.029 --> 00:26:55.829 in his own sphere, a person who doesn't try to make other people fit 269 00:26:55.869 --> 00:26:59.829 as mold, but who seeks to fit Christ's mold in his or her own 270 00:27:00.029 --> 00:27:03.900 life. It's a person who seeks to share the hope of Christ with others 271 00:27:04.220 --> 00:27:11.259 and to obey God, and yet to do so without pushing anyone around. 272 00:27:11.700 --> 00:27:15.930 I remember years ago I read an interview with Michael Horton, whom I imagine 273 00:27:17.009 --> 00:27:21.490 many of you familiar with and stand. Whoever it was who was interviewing him 274 00:27:21.529 --> 00:27:25.569 said, said Dr Horton, what advice would you give to a new calvinist? 275 00:27:26.210 --> 00:27:30.279 And he said, my advice would be to lock yourself in a closet 276 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:36.680 for six months. Well, why is that? was because anyone who becomes 277 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:41.480 overwhelmed, whether it's becoming a new Christian or it's becoming convinced of the doctrines 278 00:27:41.559 --> 00:27:44.829 of grace or whatever it is, we get so convinced, we get so 279 00:27:44.990 --> 00:27:48.750 excited about this new thing that we want to impose it on everyone else around 280 00:27:48.910 --> 00:27:55.430 us. We may not mean to, but we do. But the MEEK 281 00:27:55.589 --> 00:28:00.980 person says, Lord, let me just be a tool in your tool box 282 00:28:00.140 --> 00:28:07.940 to do your will. In my little sphere, Jesus is the best example 283 00:28:07.059 --> 00:28:12.369 of what it means to be meek. Of course, in First Peter, 284 00:28:12.730 --> 00:28:19.289 Chapter two, Peter says this. What credit is it if, when you 285 00:28:19.329 --> 00:28:25.130 were beaten for your faults, you take it patiently, but when you do 286 00:28:25.410 --> 00:28:29.799 good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 287 00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:34.079 For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving 288 00:28:34.119 --> 00:28:38.720 us an example that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin, 289 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:42.630 nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, 290 00:28:42.789 --> 00:28:47.990 did not revile and turn when he suffered, he did not threaten, but 291 00:28:48.150 --> 00:28:56.700 committed himself to him who judges righteously. See, Jesus was meek. He 292 00:28:56.819 --> 00:29:02.099 endured great suffering for us, and yet he opened not his mouth. He 293 00:29:02.259 --> 00:29:04.900 was led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before it shares, 294 00:29:06.099 --> 00:29:11.089 is silent. So he opened not his mouth. And yet at the 295 00:29:11.210 --> 00:29:21.210 same time, Jesus is incredibly powerful, but his strength was under control. 296 00:29:22.130 --> 00:29:27.599 He refused the bait. When the Pharisees tried to make him angry, didn't 297 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:33.519 he? But though he did blast them on occasion, it was always with 298 00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:38.509 love and gentleness. And and even in Matthew Chapter Twenty three, when Jesus 299 00:29:38.630 --> 00:29:48.390 blasted the Pharisees the most aggressively, Jesus finished that scathing denunciation of their selfrighteousness 300 00:29:49.829 --> 00:29:56.700 with tears over their heartheartedness. And, as Peter says in First Peter Fifteen, 301 00:29:57.579 --> 00:30:02.740 sanctify the Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense 302 00:30:02.819 --> 00:30:06.619 to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 303 00:30:07.730 --> 00:30:12.289 With meekness and fear, as we saw in our reading of the law, 304 00:30:15.170 --> 00:30:18.289 we're to give that reason in the midst of suffering, in the midst 305 00:30:18.329 --> 00:30:26.319 of living in this broken, messed up world. As we suffer, we 306 00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:30.640 give reason for the hope that is in us. With meekness, with power 307 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:37.509 under control, for instance, meekness is when I see this world going to 308 00:30:37.630 --> 00:30:41.109 hell in a handbasket, but I don't worry, I don't become angry or 309 00:30:41.150 --> 00:30:48.430 frustrated. Instead, with my strength under the control of the Holy Spirit, 310 00:30:48.509 --> 00:30:52.940 I trust that Christ is on his throne. I seek to be faithful in 311 00:30:53.059 --> 00:30:59.180 my little sphere, doing my part to help the world, and I gently 312 00:30:59.220 --> 00:31:04.089 seek to point others to Christ, for he alone can address the world's need 313 00:31:04.210 --> 00:31:11.609 for Eden. Or again, meetness is when I look at you and you're 314 00:31:11.730 --> 00:31:17.809 sinning or you're doing something that makes you look like an idiot. We all 315 00:31:17.890 --> 00:31:19.720 know people who do this. In fact, you just have to look up 316 00:31:19.720 --> 00:31:26.799 here, but you look at someone like that. But meekness is when I 317 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:32.519 don't act like I'm tempted to do. meetness is when I refrain from jumping 318 00:31:32.599 --> 00:31:37.869 down your throat over your sin and instead I entrust you to your father in 319 00:31:38.069 --> 00:31:42.190 heaven, whose son is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. 320 00:31:42.430 --> 00:31:47.180 I entrust you to your father in heaven, and I seek to love you 321 00:31:47.299 --> 00:31:55.700 as Christ does, with patience and long suffering and continual intercession for you with 322 00:31:55.819 --> 00:32:00.529 my God. And finally, Jesus says that as we grow in our trust 323 00:32:00.650 --> 00:32:07.130 of his covenant promises, as we avail ourselves of the means of grace, 324 00:32:07.170 --> 00:32:13.130 as we steep ourselves as strong tea, as it were, in his word 325 00:32:13.170 --> 00:32:20.079 where we find those promises, Jesus promises that he will give us that special 326 00:32:20.119 --> 00:32:24.480 grace to see our neediness. He will break us of our spiritual pride and 327 00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:30.190 make us spiritual beggars. He will cause us to mourn the loss of Eden 328 00:32:30.230 --> 00:32:36.190 and to mourn this mess that we've made of this world, and he will 329 00:32:36.230 --> 00:32:43.950 cause us more and more to believe and to understand his covenant promise that in 330 00:32:44.339 --> 00:32:50.900 his Kingdom we finally have the answer to all of our hearts, desires and 331 00:32:51.019 --> 00:32:57.140 yearnings. And as we know and believe those covenant promises, we will be 332 00:32:57.940 --> 00:33:05.450 transformed more and more into the meek and mighty men and women that will, 333 00:33:05.609 --> 00:33:09.970 in the imitation of our lord and Savior, be used by our father to 334 00:33:10.289 --> 00:33:19.839 change this world and to transform it for Christ, and that that is good 335 00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:22.160 news. Amen,