Man, you may be seated. Children, you are dismissed to your King's Kids class, and if you all would open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5. It's on page 962 of your Pew Bible.
And we've been working our way through the Sermon on the Mount. Let me read the eight Beatitudes.
This is Jesus.
Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him, just like we're coming to Him.
And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying,
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.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
May God bless the hearing of His word.
So this fall, we've been making our way through these Beatitudes,
one at a time.
And if you're not familiar with the Beatitudes,
it's basically a list of eight character traits of every Christian,
of every citizen of the kingdom of Jesus,
every citizen of heaven,
anyone who's been delivered out of the domain of darkness,
been transferred into the kingdom of the beloved Son,
by God's great grace.
If you are that, these are to characterize each and one in every one of us.
So all eight of these Beatitudes are to mark our characters.
It's to distinguish us from everybody else,
especially in a contentious presidential election cycle.
Two weeks ago, we looked at 5-3 being poor in spirit.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
And it is the declaration of spiritual bankruptcy.
It's like, I've got nothing.
I've got nothing.
In fact, I'm indebted.
And it's only by God's, the riches of His grace,
that He makes me, who is so poor, rich in His sight.
And then we looked at 5-4.
Last week, blessed are the mourned.
Those who mourn.
And that mourning is a grieving over what grieves God.
That we are grieving the sin in us.
And every one of us has a sinful nature.
Maybe you saw your sin this morning.
We grieve our sin.
And today, this morning, we're looking at the blessed meek.
Blessed are the meek.
Meek!
I don't know about you, but when I hear meekness,
I start thinking of things like pushover,
subservient, doormat, compliant,
maybe a little sprinkling of cowardliness,
domesticated.
This word for meek was used in antiquity
to describe domesticated animals.
Sign me up!
For many people in our culture,
when we hear meekness,
we think weakness.
We think soft.
And that can be distasteful.
I'm not a listener of Joe Rogan,
but he has a massive following
on a podcast.
Comedian, MMA, aficionado.
And he was recently lamenting
the state of men in our culture.
And he picked up this quote.
Shared it.
This is what he said.
Soft times make for soft men.
Soft men make for hard times.
Hard times make for hard men.
Hard men make for soft times.
Soft times make for soft men.
And so he's putting his finger
on this cycle.
And what he's saying is this.
Don't be a soft man.
I wonder what Joe Rogan would think
of Jesus' words,
blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who get walked on.
Blessed are the doormats.
Blessed are the pushovers.
Was Jesus a pushover?
Was Jesus a doormat?
Was he domesticated?
This beatitude has two parts.
And we're going to look at both parts
in the sermon.
The blessed meek.
Let's look at what biblical meekness
really is.
And then let's look at this promise
to the meek.
God's promised earth.
The hope for the meek.
Now if you've come into this building
and you're prone to holding grudges,
getting defensive,
you're critical of others,
you fear what other people
think about you.
You need to hear these words.
Blessed are the meek.
It's your rescue
from you.
So let's dive in.
We'll first look at
the blessed meek
and God's promised earth.
So the blessed meek.
Blessed are the meek.
The first thing you need
to realize is
that this meekness
that Jesus is talking about
is thoroughly unnatural.
This is an unnatural meekness.
This isn't the kind of meekness
that, you know,
you may have a friend
who is kind of just,
kind of has a naturally
mild temperament.
You provoke them
and you goad them
and they will not get hot.
They're just naturally mild.
That's not the meekness
Jesus is talking about.
Or maybe
someone who's just genuinely nice.
That's not the meekness
Jesus is speaking about.
Maybe we're just talking about
upper Midwestern hospitality.
It's not that.
This meekness is unnatural
because this meekness
is supernatural.
Martin Lloyd-Jones
talked about the Beatitudes
as a spiritual,
logical sequence,
a progression.
And it all starts
with poor in spirit.
It all starts
with bankruptcy.
Do you know
that the only way
that you can see
your own sinful depravity
is if the Spirit of God
convicts you of it?
What's being described
in these Beatitudes
is not something
that you can do to yourself.
These eight Beatitudes
actually is a profile
of a whole new nature
in Christ Jesus.
these are people
who have been
made new
by the Holy Spirit.
This meekness
is unnatural.
To be poor in spirit
means that the Holy Spirit
has convicted
a sinner
of their sin
against God.
I mean,
Jesus said
that's why the Holy Spirit
is coming
to convict the world
of sin,
righteousness,
and judgment.
And then not only
to convict
a sinner
of their sin
against God,
but that sinner
starts realizing
as part of that conviction
that they are under
God's just wrath.
That they are
spiritually bankrupt
and desperate.
And that their only hope
is in God's forgiveness
of them.
That's moving towards
this spirit rot,
poverty of spirit.
And then
what follows
is this
grieving your sin.
sin.
This is a supernatural
work as well.
Where you are
so concerned
and grieved
by what you have done
and the offense
that you have given God,
you feel the weight
and you mourn it.
It's a godly sorrow
that leads to repentance.
This is a working of God.
And as we go through
all eight of these,
you're going to see
more and more
that these are actually
a profile of Jesus,
just like the fruit
of the spirit,
and they are to mark
each one of us
and it's something
we can't do to ourselves.
We can't pull ourselves
up by our own bootstraps
and be more meek.
We lower ourselves.
So the first thing
that you need to know
about this blessed meekness
is it's unnatural
because it's supernatural.
It's a description
of someone
who has been born of God.
The second thing
I want you to know
about this blessed meekness
is what distinguishes meekness.
It's relational.
The first two beatitudes
were concerned primarily
with a right relating to God
that I am spiritually bankrupt
in his eyes
and grieving that.
That's called
that you're being penitent
over your sin.
What meekness is
is when someone
who is aware
of their spiritual bankruptcy
and grieving their sin
and they bring
that heart posture
towards God
into their relationships
with other people.
That's meekness.
That's a humble posture
of heart towards God
that results
in a humble posture
of heart
towards other people.
meekness
has everything to do
with the way
in which we relate
to other people.
Before you were converted,
before you became
a Christian,
you thought
you were the controlling
center of your own world.
and most likely
you lived out
your relationships
for yourself.
What you can get out of it.
What's in it for me.
After your conversion,
when Jesus becomes
the controlling center
of your life,
what happens
to your relationships
isn't that now
you live out
your relationships
for other people.
You live out
your relationships
for Jesus
with other people.
Because he's
the controlling center
of your life.
On January 1st
in 1900,
the Chicago River
had its flow reversed.
It had been flowing
out into Lake Michigan
and the problem
that resulted
from that
was people living
in Chicago
were getting sick
because they were
drinking their own sewage.
So they got the great idea,
you know what,
let's not drink
our own sewage,
let's let the people
of St. Louis
drink our sewage.
So let's reverse
the flow
and instead of
flowing into
Lake Michigan,
we're going to
flow it down
to St. Louis.
when Jesus
becomes the controlling
center of your life,
your relationships
flow differently.
They don't flow
to you anymore.
By God's grace,
now they flow
towards Jesus
for his glory,
for the good
of those people
in your life.
This is the radical change
that God brings
about when he
changes a sinner
into a saint.
And the resulting
meekness
has the effect
of gentleness.
That change
brings about
an approachability.
So let me
give you this
definition
for biblical
meekness.
Biblical
meekness
is a Christ-like
posture
towards others.
He's both
tender
and tough
and always
truthful.
Tender and tough
and always
truthful
and he majors
on tender.
We're to be
like Christ
in our
meekness.
Let me just
read this passage
to you.
This is Philippians.
This is one of
our favorite passages
as a church
because we need
to be reminded
of it so frequently.
Philippians
chapter 2
verses 3
through 11.
Listen for
the meekness
of Jesus,
his humility,
humility,
and our
resultant
meekness,
our humility.
Do nothing
from selfish
ambition or
conceit,
but in humility
count others
more significant
than yourselves.
Let each of you
look not only
to his own
interests,
but also
to the interests
of others.
Have this mind
among yourselves,
which is yours
in Christ Jesus,
who,
though he was
in the form
of God,
did not count
equality with God
a thing to be grasped,
to be held on to,
but emptied himself.
How?
By taking the form
of a servant,
being born in the
likeness of men,
and being found
in human form,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient
to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore,
God has highly
exalted him
and bestowed on him
the name that is
above every name,
so that at the name
of Jesus,
every knee should bow,
in heaven and earth
and under the earth,
and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory
of God the Father.
Jesus is exalted
and exemplified
for his meekness.
Through his meekness,
we're saved.
But there's something else
I want to point you to.
John opened the service
with it.
He's going to close
the service with it.
It's what Jesus has to say
about himself.
Come to me.
All who labor
are heavy laden
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me,
for I am gentle.
It's the same word
translated meek
here in Matthew 5.5.
For I am meek
and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest
for your souls.
For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.
The greatest biblical example
of meekness
is Jesus,
who is meek
and lowly
at heart.
Jesus is both tender
and tough.
He's always truthful.
And what we see
in the pages
of the New Testament
in the Gospels,
he's always tender
towards the penitent,
but he is tough
to the impenitent.
Just think of what he said
to the Pharisees,
you brood of vipers.
Just think of what he did
his clearing out
of the temple
when he expressed anger.
He was tough
to the impenitent.
Dane Ortlund,
in his book,
Gentle and Lowly,
brings this out
in a beautiful way.
If you don't have this book,
would you grab one
on your way out?
We've got stacks of it
sitting out
on the doorway.
Just grab one
on your way,
one per household.
You will be encouraged
by this,
and I think you will
grow in meekness
as a result
of reading it.
What I'm wanting
to help you to see
is meekness
is unnatural
because it's supernatural,
and it's relational.
It's how we relate
to one another,
and it's epitomized
in the person
of Jesus.
And it results
in supernatural relating.
Has anyone in the room
been sinned against?
You can raise your hand.
Yes.
You don't need
to raise your hand
on this next question.
How many in the room
who have been sinned against
tend to hold a grudge?
A grudge is a kind
of unforgiveness.
A grudge is even
a kind of
cool vengeance.
Do the meek
hold grudges?
No.
The meek don't hold grudges
because when the meek
are sinned against,
they go into
a mode of thinking
that says,
oh, oh,
you know what?
that stings,
but man,
have I sinned
so much worse,
so much more.
There's an awareness
of your own
spiritual bankruptcy
and grief
over your own sin.
Meek people
don't hold grudges.
Jesus doesn't hold
a grudge against you,
brother, sister.
How about
when it comes
to correction?
Has anybody
tried to correct you
recently?
It's one thing
to see sin
in your own life
and say,
you know what?
Man,
I saw this sin
in my own life.
I am so aghast
by it.
But when someone
else points out
a sin in your life,
boy,
that gets a little
different,
doesn't it?
Who are you
to think that?
Who are you
to say that?
You can be defensive,
even dismissive,
but you know
how the meek
handle correction?
They're like this.
Oh,
yeah,
you're probably right.
I'll think about it.
But you don't know
the half of it.
Brothers and sisters,
if you were in my head
this week
and you saw
what went through
my head
this week,
you would be shocked.
Here's how the meek
respond to correction.
It's Proverbs 9.8.
You correct a fool,
you'll get slapped.
You correct a wise man,
someone who fears
the Lord,
who is Jesus
as the controlling center
of his life
or her life,
they will love you.
They may even kiss you.
They may even say,
oh,
thank you so much
for caring for me
and for what matters most.
This is a supernatural
way of relating.
This isn't pull yourself
up by your bootstraps.
This meekness
comes from the living God.
Could you imagine
a church
who are growing
in meekness
more and more?
They're tender,
they're tough,
they're always truthful,
but they major
on tenderness
because they're all
so aware
of their need
for God's
ongoing grace.
We can go on.
How the meek
respond to sinful
comparisons,
how the meek
respond to
a temptation
to be critical
of others,
we can go on
and on.
But what I want you
to see is
meekness
makes a dramatic
difference
in our relating
to one another.
And at the heart
of it
is a humility
towards God.
There's a phrase
I've been
chewing on
all week.
I think it's
a freeing phrase,
but it can be
taken wrong.
If spoken
by a meek
person,
it makes sense.
We can also
hear a prideful
person saying
this,
but listen
to it.
It matters
little
what you
think about me
because it
matters much
what Christ
thinks about me.
It matters
little what you
think about me.
I will take it
in so far
as it serves
my pursuit
of Jesus
because
He's what
matters most
to me.
we
welcome
correction.
We
forgive
fully
and quickly
because it
matters little
what others
think about us
because what
matters most
to us
is what
Jesus thinks.
Biblical
meekness
is a
Christ-like
posture
towards
others.
you are
both
tender
and tough
always truthful
but you're
majoring on
tenderness.
Do you know
what the greatest
threat
to meekness
is?
Your pride.
God.
The opposite
of meekness
is arrogance.
It goes
like this.
You stop
tending to
your heart.
You start
forgetting about
your God.
You start
getting caught
up in the
things of
this world
day to day
just getting
by.
You start
losing sight
of the
holiness
and grandeur
and majesty
of God.
and you
start losing
sight of
the sinfulness
of your
sin and
your constant
need of
your Lord
Jesus.
You start
to think
about these
things less
and they
become less
and less
important and
in the place
of that
importance
vacuum you
step into
that.
You start
thinking more
highly of
yourself than
you ought.
You start
thinking
insisting on
your own
way.
You start
minimizing
your sins.
That's how
that works.
Your
arrogance,
your pride,
it's
deceptive,
sneaky,
and it's
the greatest
threat to
meekness
because when
that kind
of attitude,
prideful
attitude,
shows up
in the
people of
God,
it's
rot.
It's
cancerous.
It's the
opposite of
love.
It doesn't
build up,
it tears
down.
At this
point, I just
want to ask
you,
is there a
particular
relationship
that God has
been bringing
to your
mind,
God's
in which you
need to
circle back
to,
and you
need to
kind of
re-engage
that for
the glory
of Jesus,
where you
need to
say,
I've been
arrogant,
I've been
prideful,
I have not
been meek,
I've been
insisting on
my own
ways,
will you
forgive me?
is there
someone you
need to
confess your
sin to?
Blessed are
the meek.
Meekness is
cultivated by
taking big,
long,
deep looks
at Jesus.
Seeing Him
as He is
the controlling
center of
your life.
You'll be
reminded of
your spiritual
depravity,
you will be
grieving your
sin,
and that is
the tender
spot in
which we
live out
our
relationships
with one
another.
Meekness
is a
claim of
forfeiture
on your
reputation
for Jesus.
You
forfeit
your reputation
in the
eyes of
man.
because it
matters
little
to you
what others
think about
you
because it
matters much
to you
of what
Christ
thinks about
you.
This is the
way of the
kingdom.
This is a
mark of a
kingdom
citizen.
And you know
what?
if I made
it sound like
not holding a
grudge is
easy,
forgive me
because it's
hard.
If I made
it sound like
stopping being
defensive is
easy,
forgive me.
You've got to
die to
yourself.
Dying to
yourself is
not easy.
but when
you see
Jesus,
oh,
maybe you're
sitting in
your pew
right now
and you're
like,
okay,
Salvati,
move on.
Got it.
Well,
before I move
on to the
promise,
I just
want to
stoke
something in
you.
if you're
going to be
meek as
Jesus is
meek,
you're
going to
catch
heat for
it.
People are
going to
call you
soft.
People are
going to
think that
you're
soft on
sin.
People
think that
you're
just a
softy
pushover.
They're
going to
interpret
it,
not as
Jesus
speaks it,
but as
they think
it is.
Is it
worth it?
And the
answer is
yes,
it's
worth it.
And when
we can
see that
it's
worth it
because of
where Jesus
goes next,
blessed
are the
meek,
for they
shall inherit
the earth.
So let's
move from
the blessed
meek to
God's
promised
earth,
and let
me get
some
sweetness
into your
soul.
There's a
few things I
want you to
see about
this promise.
This
promise
of an
earth.
First
thing I want
you to
know is
that Jesus
is actually
quoting
Psalm 37
and in
Psalm 37
it's a
Psalm of
David.
David is
speaking to
the righteous
and he's
saying do
not fret
when the
wicked
prosper.
And four
times in
that Psalm
he says
someone will
inherit the
earth.
Four times.
The first
is those
who wait
on the
Lord,
then the
meek,
then the
blessed
of the
Lord,
and then
the
righteous.
When
we're
living on
this earth
among
people who
don't know
Jesus and
we're
trying to
be like
Jesus,
we're
going to
catch
heat for
it and
we might
start fretting
over that.
Brother,
sister,
there's
something
coming.
Brother,
sister,
brother,
sister,
hear me.
You got
acreage
waiting for
you.
You got
a plot
in the
new
earth.
You got
acreage.
church.
When
things get
tough and
we start
asking the
question,
is this
worth it?
Oh,
yeah,
it's worth
it because
I'm not
living for
this world.
I'm living
for the
next,
my heavenly
homeland.
That's the
earth that
Jesus is
referring to.
Not the
present
earth in
its sin
riddled
state.
No,
it's the
new earth.
We will
inherit it.
It's a
double promise.
He's saying
there is a
new earth
coming.
I promise.
And then
He promises
and you've
got a
stake in
it.
You've
got acreage
there.
You've
got a
plot of
land
in the
new
earth.
Blessed are
the meek
for they've
got acreage
in the
new
earth.
This
world
is not
it.
brothers
and
sisters.
Here's
what we
know about
the new
earth.
We know
that the
new
earth,
it is a
place of
perfect
peace.
There are
no more
tears,
there are
no more
mourning,
there's no
more pain,
there's no
more war,
there's no
more contentious
presidential
election cycles,
and they're
all gone
because sin
is gone.
It's
completely
eradicated.
Now,
let me
read for
you a
rather
graphic
depiction
of this
coming of
the new
earth.
This is
2 Peter
chapter 3.
2 Peter
says,
For the
day of
the Lord
will come
like a
thief,
when Jesus
returns,
and the
heavens will
pass away
with a
roar,
and the
heavenly
bodies will
be burned
up and
dissolved,
and the
earth and
the works
that are
done on it
will be
exposed.
Since all
these things
are thus to
be dissolved,
what sort of
people ought
you to be
in light of
holiness and
godliness,
waiting for
and hastening
the coming of
the day of
God,
because of
which the
heavens will
be set on
fire and
dissolved,
and the
heavenly bodies
will melt away as they burn.
But according to His promise,
we are waiting for new heavens
and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.
There it is.
Your house that you live in
is not your forever house.
God, Jesus has gone to prepare a place for you.
There's new earth acreage, brother, sister.
There's a new earth house, brother, sister.
You're not going to be disappointed.
It's pristine.
No sin.
But that's not the best part of it.
Do you know what the best part of the new earth is?
It's who's there waiting for you.
It's Jesus.
Revelation 21.
It's God dwelling with man,
wiping away our tears.
It's Him with us.
It's who's there waiting for you.
This is a little speculation.
What kind of parcel is waiting for you?
I don't know.
I'm thinking my parcel,
maybe for the first 10,000 years,
is maybe it's kind of mountainous
and with a bunch of mountain bike trails off the back.
Could you imagine this?
Jesus walking up the front walk of your parcel,
tapping on your screen door,
walking in saying,
how do you like the place?
I prepared it just for you.
And then He says,
let's go for a walk on the property.
That's what makes meekness worth it.
To be like Him
and to be with the meek one
in glory.
Are you banking on this promise?
Are you remembering it?
And are you setting your heart on it?
This promise gets a couple things done.
This promise of a new earth,
it stirs our longing.
It loosens our grip.
We start reading.
We start seeing things
that are light and momentary.
And we let it go.
I'm not living for my car
because it's light and momentary
and it's going to get burned up.
I'm not living for a vacation or promotion
because it's light and momentary.
It's going to get burned up.
It loosens your grip.
It tightens your grip
on what matters most.
It's like smelling salts to the soul.
It helps you to say,
okay, hey,
if all this stuff's going to get burned up
on this present earth,
what's not?
And what's not is God's glory,
the souls of men and women,
and God's word.
And so when you start realizing
the values of that,
that starts aligning you
to what matters most.
So this all translates
into perseverance.
Pressing on.
Pressing on into meekness.
Rather being wronged
than having to be right.
Meekness.
Jesus.
You've got acreage
in the new earth waiting for you.
Let's live for Him now.
Being meek
as He is meek.
We've seen the blessed meek,
the humble at heart
as Jesus is meek at heart.
It's tender and tough,
always truthful,
yet majoring on tenderness.
Who are the meek?
They are the blood-bought,
grace objects of Jesus
who are becoming more and more like Him.
The penitent
who bring in their spiritual poverty
and spiritual mourning
into their relationships
with others.
Do you need to own
some of your prideful ways
that grieve your God?
Are you ignoring your arrogance?
The meek don't ignore their sin.
Do you need
to take to heart
your inheritance
that awaits you,
brother or sister?
Have you neglected that?
Set your heart
on Revelation 21 and 22.
This is the blessed meekness.
A Christ-like posture
of heart towards others.
And what you're going to realize,
it matters little
what others think about you
because it matters most
what Christ thinks about you.
Blessed are the meek.
Let's pray.
It doesn't matter, Lord,
if people think we're soft or hard.
It doesn't matter.
What matters most is what you think.
Father, would you pour out
your Spirit afresh upon us
that we would be meek
as Jesus is meek to one another.
That we would be humble.
That we would walk in the ways
of our meek King.
Lord, would you create in our midst
in greater and greater measure
a Spirit-filled people
who are living out the meekness
of the kingdom.
Lord, we look to you.
We ask this of you.
And we praise you.
We wouldn't want it any other way.
You are worthy.
O you meek one, Lord Jesus.
Make us meek.
In your name we pray.
Amen.