Well, just a word about our elder nomination process before I get into the sermon.
So I'll just give you an update, and then I'll pray, and we'll get back, we'll get to the sermon.
So as most of you are aware, this past January, our church membership affirmed a special elder nomination process
for Luke Keelan and Dave Barnard.
And it's scheduled to culminate with a membership meeting on March 20th.
And so Rick and I have been very diligent with Dave and Lou in walking them through some material.
But what we've realized, all four of us, is that we need more time.
That with March 20th coming up, it's bringing an element to things
that are making things more difficult than they need to be in the process of walking these guys through,
whether they're qualified and ready to be elders.
And so all four of us have realized that we're just starting to talk about the things that we need to talk about.
We're just starting to talk about the things that are essential to elders.
And so what we've realized is that we need to extend the process.
We can't rush this.
We can't afford to rush this.
And so we love this church.
And we believe that the men who fill the office of elder need to be qualified
and need to be thoroughly considered.
And so in light of that, Rick and I are canceling the 320 membership meeting
so that we can just continue in the process that we're in.
And so what that means is we'll just continue with our regular elder nomination process
that will culminate in June.
And so this is to give us more time in talking with Dave and Lou
and asking the hard questions and thinking through hard issues.
The desire of Rick and I is to present to you elder candidates
that we have thorough confidence in for your affirmation.
And so we just need more time in that.
This may raise a question with you in terms of other elder nominations.
If you're seeing other men in the church here who you want to put forward,
Rick and I would welcome those nominations.
And so feel free to offer those names up.
But we just want to let you know, out of love for this church
and a desire to guard this church, we just see the need to take more time in this.
And so we'll circle back to this tonight at our family gathering.
But we want to let you know this morning about this decision.
So all for the glory, all for the glory of God.
I just want to say this too.
Rick and I realize we got ahead of ourselves.
When we asked for this affirmation in January,
where we thought we could walk through this process in a responsible fashion,
culminating in March 20th.
But what we realized is, though well intended, we just need more time.
And so it's been learning for us as well.
And we just want to do what's wise and right at this point
and not push something through just to push something through.
And so thank you for your understanding on that.
And let's now turn to the Lord in prayer.
God, we do thank you so much for your word.
We do thank you in particular for what your word says about elders.
And God, we thank you for Lou and Dave.
Thank you for Rick.
And we thank you for this process we're in.
And we're thankful that, God, you are using even the process,
even in its imperfect nature, to bring about your purposes.
And so, God, we look to you.
We're trying to be attentive to the leading of your spirit,
according to your word.
And so, God, would you raise up men who are qualified to be elders in this church,
who love your church, protect your church,
and nurture your church?
God, we ask this.
In the name of Jesus, we ask for wisdom.
God, we pray for unity as a church around us.
God, we entrust this to you.
And now, God, as we turn to your word,
God, would you meet us in your word?
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
Oh, I've never seen this.
That's okay.
Amen.
It was the first.
And so I have changed how I interact with him.
It was humbling.
I still have this edge on him I call the old man strength.
I still have that edge on him.
But it was humbling.
Have you ever been put in your place before?
Meekness, blessed are the meek.
Meek, meekness is being put in your place by God's grace.
Meekness is being put in your place by God's grace.
The meek know God has put them in their place by his grace.
You see yourself as you really are in relationship to God and to others.
Okay, anybody familiar with the planet Pluto?
Pluto has been taken a bum rap.
It's been demoted to a dwarf planet by some.
Not me.
I'm a purist.
Ninth planet always.
But what you need to realize is these nine planets orbit the sun.
Right?
And there was a time when most of humanity thought that everything else rotated around the earth.
That the earth was the center of all things.
And then this guy named Copernicus came around who is this, I think, Polish mathematician who figured out in the 16th century,
it was just math that the sun doesn't revolve around the earth.
It's the earth that revolves around the sun.
It was a radical shift in thinking.
Becoming a Christian is a radical shift in thinking.
It's the recognition that God doesn't orbit me.
But I orbit God.
All things orbit God.
He's the center of all things.
He's that which is most glorious, important in all of existence.
He's the center of all things.
And all things are dependent on him.
Becoming a citizen of the kingdom of heaven is a radical change in our orientation and our understanding.
We no longer value what the world values.
Me at the middle of everything.
Everything's for me.
Everything revolves around me.
We don't live that way anymore.
Jesus has changed us.
We're part of his kingdom.
He's our king.
And now we live for God.
He's the center of our world.
And so the Sermon on the Mount where we've been spending some time,
the Sermon on the Mount is Christ's manifesto of this radical reorientation.
He's the king.
The kingdom has come.
It changes everything.
How things really are.
And so this Sermon on the Mount, this manifesto,
is a radical reorientation of our thinking.
Jesus has radically changed us.
And he's our king.
And so this morning, we're going to look at something radical.
Blessed are the meek.
The meek.
The meek are those who know they've been put in their place by God's grace.
And so this morning, we're going to look at five things.
The meaning of meekness, number one.
Two, meekness in the Beatitudes, that's number two.
The heart of meekness, number three.
The way of meekness, number four.
And the promise to the meek, number five.
Blessed are the meek, for theirs is the kingdom.
Excuse me.
For they shall inherit the earth.
So let's look at this meaning of meekness.
Other Bibles translate meekness as gentle.
It basically means mild or soft.
In classical Greek, it was used to talk about domesticated animals.
About a wild beast that has been broken and now carries stuff for work.
It's power under control.
I have a beast at home.
Not one of my sons.
We've got a hundred-pound black lab named Gus.
And he's a blockhead.
He is a beast.
And he's domesticated.
I tell him to do things, and usually he does them.
Gus go lay down.
He takes some time, but he goes lay down.
Gus come in.
And eventually he comes in.
Gus go up to Nate's room.
He goes up to Nate's room.
Sometimes he doesn't, but usually he does most of the time.
That word in classical Greek that's translated gentle was used of domesticated animals,
but it was also eventually used to describe the upper crust of a society.
The well-mannered.
The well-groomed.
The well-balanced.
I've got a confession.
I love Downton Abbey.
I do.
I love it.
As one brother said, he's glad to hang up his man card to watch Downton Abbey.
So am I.
Well, the Crowley's would be this well-mannered, well-groomed, well-balanced upper crust of a society.
Kind of power under control.
When we talk about the human attitude in this word meekness, this word gentleness, it's speaking of a submissiveness, a quietness, a tenderheartedness.
And so we learn some things from classic Greek, but the Bible seems to get at something else when talking about meekness.
John MacArthur, in his commentary on Matthew, points out that the essential difference between poor in spirit and meekness is that poor in spirit focuses on one's sinfulness,
where this meekness primarily focuses on God, the greatness of God, an awareness of who God is and the tenderizing effect of his grace towards us.
And when Jesus talks about here as blessed are the meek, it's one of his beatitudes, blessed are the meek.
You know he's saying that all of his citizens are to be meek.
All of us.
All of us are to be meek in growing in meekness.
No one, no citizen is outside this call.
Blessed are the meek.
So for this morning, I want to give you this definition of meekness.
Meekness is a humble posture of heart that results from being put in one's place by God's grace.
And the meek don't resist it.
The meek don't resent it.
The meek rejoice in it.
So that's the meaning of meekness.
Now let's look at meekness in relationship to the beatitudes in this progression.
Remember the beatitudes.
If you look at Matthew chapter 5, they start in verse 3.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who declare spiritual bankruptcy, who say,
I am in great debt because of my sin against God.
And what we learn from the Bible is that those who declare bankruptcy due to their sin against God,
what they will experience is God's gracious and generous bailout plan in Jesus.
They're forgiven their whole debt.
And they're made citizens of the kingdom of heaven with all the rights, privileges, and inheritance thereof.
We are made spiritually rich by God's grace.
That's where the beatitudes start.
And then they move to this mourning sin.
Sin against God.
Blessed are those who mourn.
It's the emotional counterpart to being poor in spirit.
And what we see in Matthew 5, 4 is those who mourn are promised comfort.
And what we know is that the only comfort for those who are mourning their sin is found in Jesus.
He paid the penalty.
All of it.
Jesus paid it all.
He broke the power of sin.
And he promises that one day Christians, that the sinful nature will even be eradicated from them.
Presence of sin no more.
And so there's going to come a day when you are on your parcel in the new earth with your new heavenly body.
And you're going to be thinking like, something's missing, but I don't really miss it.
You're not going to have a sinful nature.
What I want you to see is out of one's poverty of spirit, out of one's mourning of sin, comes meekness.
Blessed are the meek.
Another way to come about this is you cannot experience the meekness of which Jesus is speaking without first being poor in spirit,
without mourning your sin.
Do you know what makes a Christian meek, tenderhearted?
It's just not the recognition of one's spiritual debt.
It's just not mourning sin.
It's recognizing the amazing grace of God that in the face of these things,
He would pour out on us when we don't deserve it.
That will make you meek.
That will humble you.
That will tenderize you.
Meekness is the result of being put in your place by God's grace,
His amazing generous grace, His amazing comforting grace.
When you experience the bailout of Jesus,
when you experience the comfort of Christ,
it is even in the face of your sin,
it tenderizes you.
It makes you meek.
The meek don't walk around with a sourpuss.
The meek smile.
Because in their humility,
there is gratitude for what God has done for them in Christ.
They see themselves as they truly are.
The meek are the humble.
Martin Lloyd-Jones,
amazing preacher of a bygone era,
in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount,
says,
meekness is essentially a true view of oneself.
So citizens of heaven realize
that they are spiritual beggars
made citizens by God's grace.
Citizens of heaven realize
that they've sinned against a holy God
and continue to,
and they mourn it,
and yet experience the comfort
that only Christ provides.
That will make you meek.
So meekness is seeing oneself
in light of who God is
and what God has done for us in Jesus.
Meekness blooms in that atmosphere.
A.W. Tozer,
who wrote the book Knowledge of the Holy,
writes in the first chapter,
first page,
first paragraph,
first sentence,
what comes into your mind
when you think about God
is the most important thing about you.
And I would agree with him.
And here's why.
What you believe to be true about God
will define and determine how you live.
What you believe to be true about God,
whether that's right or wrong,
whether it's accurate or inaccurate,
what you believe to be true about God
will define and determine how you live,
what you think about yourself and others.
So in this progression of the Beatitudes,
the meek are those
who know they've been put in their place
by God's grace.
They know their sinfulness
and they know God's generosity,
His comfort.
They know who their God is.
They are themselves,
they see themselves as they truly are,
sinners saved by grace.
That's the meek.
Now let's look at the heart of meekness.
We're just starting to get there.
At the heart of meekness.
Third point,
at the heart of meekness.
At the heart of meekness
is not a woe is me.
It's not I'm a loser.
At the heart of meekness
is a heart for God's glory.
It's a heart for God.
It's a fullness of joy in God.
And so as you're reading Matthew 5,
verse 5,
blessed are the meek,
you may be asking,
well, how do you know that?
How do you know that the meek,
there's a fullness,
a heart full of God
just from Matthew 5, 5, salvati?
How do you know that?
Well, here's how.
Jesus, in Matthew 5, 5,
is actually quoting from Psalm 37.
So if you want to turn your Bibles
to Psalm 37,
that's going to help you
get the full sense,
get something about this word meek.
And as you're turning there,
what you need to know
is that Jesus is quoting
from Psalm 37, 11,
where David writes,
blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the land.
Psalm 37 is a psalm of David,
like I just mentioned.
It's written to God's faithful
who were encountering evil people,
the wicked,
and they were fearing them,
they were fretting them,
and they were even envious of them.
And so in chapter,
well, verse 11,
David eventually says,
blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the land.
And what he says before that,
what he says before that
about how the meek live
helps us understand
who the meek are.
So, in verse 3,
do you see verse 3?
I've got to get to Psalm 37 myself,
sorry about that.
Verse 3,
trust in the Lord
and do good.
Verse 4,
delight yourself in the Lord.
Verse 5,
commit your way to the Lord.
Verse 7,
be still before the Lord.
The second part of that,
wait patiently for Him,
for the Lord.
These are the meek.
The meek.
The meek stand out
against the wicked,
against evildoers.
Because they trust in the Lord.
They delight themselves in the Lord.
They commit their way to the Lord.
They're still before the Lord.
They wait for the Lord.
Do you notice
all those little commands,
they have an aim.
They have an object.
They're moving in a direction.
All of it is Godward
in their direction.
The meek trust in the Lord.
The meek delight in joy the Lord.
The meek commit their way to the Lord.
They seek Him for protection.
The meek are still before the Lord.
They want to experience His presence.
The meek wait patiently for the Lord.
It's on His time.
And so what I want you to see in this,
according to Psalm 37,
David thinks about the meek
in fullness.
They are those who live for God.
They humbly live for God.
Those who do these things,
trust, delight, commit,
are still before,
wait patiently on it.
They're the meek.
They're not haughty evildoers.
They are humble God lovers.
At the heart of meekness
is a heart for God.
That's what we see in Psalm 37,
what leads up to Psalm 37, 11.
So it helps us to understand
a little bit more about the meekness
that Jesus is talking about.
Can I just say this?
Do you know the reason why
someone, a Christian,
would want to live for God?
Do you know why that is?
It's because of what God's Spirit
has done in them.
We can't take credit
for our own desire to live for God.
That desire to live for God
is a result of being born again
by the Spirit of God,
being regenerated by the Spirit.
we've been completely changed.
In fact, this word that's translated
meek here in Matthew 5
shows up in Galatians 5
in the list of the fruit of the Spirit.
It shows up as gentleness there.
But what that means is this.
Citizens of the kingdom are meek
and they're growing in meekness.
God is looking to cultivate
and grow meekness,
gentleness in us.
And the way He's going to do it
is helping us to see our God,
at least in part,
to live in light of who He is,
to trust Him fully.
All I wanted to help you see here
is that at the heart of meekness
is a heart for God
born by the Spirit.
Meekness is a humble posture of heart
put in place by God's grace.
your attitude towards God
will show up
in your attitude and action
towards others.
And so if you are meek towards God,
you will be meek towards others.
If you are humble towards God,
it will show up
in being humble towards others.
It all starts with our God.
It all starts with a heart for Him.
Meekness starts with God.
The fourth point I want to make this morning
is the way of meekness.
What does that look like
in Kenosha in 2016?
What does meekness look like today?
And before we get into it,
I've got seven things I want to show you.
Before we get there,
I want you to turn to Matthew 11,
verse 28 and 29.
So when we talk about
the way of meekness,
what meekness looks like,
I want to first point you
to this.
Matthew 11, verse 28 and 29.
You know these words.
Jesus speaking,
come to me all who labor
and are heavy laden
and I will give you rest.
You know those words?
And then look what He says.
Jesus,
take my yoke upon me
and learn from me
for I am,
say it with me,
what does your version say?
Gentle.
That's the word meek.
For I am gentle,
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.
Do you know what this is saying?
Meekness
is a Christ-like character trait.
And so,
the way of meekness
is the way of Jesus.
To be meek
is to be like Christ.
And so what I want to help you now
is help us live meekness out.
Alright,
so seven things.
Because you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
the way of meekness
will mean dying to yourself
every day
to give God
His rightful place.
That's where it all starts.
You see yourself
rightly in light of who God is.
And so it means
you're going to die to yourself.
It's that
Copernican revolution.
It's like,
I'm not at the center of my world.
God is.
Every day.
That's where meekness,
humility starts.
And we see this played out
in the life of Jesus
in Matthew 26,
verse 39.
Do you remember
Jesus in Gethsemane?
Weeping,
asking His Father,
Lord,
if it's possible
for this cup to pass before me,
that'd be great.
But then He says,
do you remember?
Nevertheless,
not my will,
but your will be done.
That's what we're talking about here.
Meekness,
humility,
submissiveness.
Because you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
you will die to yourself daily,
just like Jesus did there.
Second thing,
because you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
you will not see others
as more important than yourselves.
Because you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
you'll see yourself rightly
in relationship to other people.
Would you flip to Philippians chapter 2?
Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians,
General Electric Power Company,
God eats popcorn.
Helpful ways to remember.
Philippians chapter 2.
Starting in verse 3.
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit,
but in humility count others
more significant than yourselves.
But in meekness,
count others more significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look not only
to his own interests,
but also the interests of others.
There's meekness.
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,
but made himself nothing,
taking the form of a servant.
He became meek,
being born in the likeness of man.
We take on the same attitude
as our Savior and King
in relationship to others.
I consider others better than myself
because I'm taking the same attitude
of my King,
who did not count equality with God
something to be grasped.
He humbled himself,
even though he's in the very nature of God.
Amazing.
Because you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
you see others as more important than yourself.
It shows up in your family.
It shows up with your spouse.
It shows up in your small group.
It shows up when people come asking for help.
It shows up all over the place.
This meekness,
this Christ-like meekness.
The third thing,
because you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
you will not retaliate when wronged.
Vengeance is mine,
says the Lord.
This puts meekness to the test.
When you're wronged
and you want to retaliate,
God says,
no, no.
Vengeance is mine.
God is at the center of your world.
He'll take care of you.
Turn to Romans chapter 12.
This is that great passage
that begins with,
I appeal to you, brothers,
by the mercies of God
to present your bodies
a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable,
which is your spiritual worship.
This is spiritual worship
we're talking about.
In verse 14,
he says,
bless those who persecute you.
Bless and do not curse them.
That is meekness.
Rejoice with those who rejoice.
Weep with those who weep.
Meekness.
Live in harmony with one another.
Do not be haughty,
but associate with the lowly.
There's meekness.
Never be conceited.
Meekness.
Repay no one evil for evil,
but give thought
to do what is honorable
in the sight of all.
If possible,
so far as depends on you,
live peaceably with all.
Meekness.
Beloved,
never avenge yourselves,
but leave it to the wrath of God,
for it is written,
vengeance is mine.
I will repay,
says the Lord.
To the contrary,
if your enemy is hungry,
feed him.
It's meekness.
Being put in your place
by God's grace
will result in you
not retaliating when wrong,
but actually loving others
when you're wrong.
Father,
forgive them
for they know not what they do.
Luke 23.
The fourth thing.
Because you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
you will welcome correction
and not be defensive.
This is really hard.
When someone comes up to you
and wants to see something
in your life
and they want to point it out,
now,
if I'm pointing out my own sinfulness,
that's one thing.
But when someone else
points out my sinfulness,
that's another thing.
The meek welcome correction.
The meek,
the meek,
don't put up walls
of defensiveness.
The meek are like
the person in Proverbs chapter 9.
If you want to turn there,
go right ahead.
Proverbs chapter 9.
9 verse 7.
Whoever comes to a scoffer
gets himself abuse,
and he who reproves a wicked man
incurs injury,
do not reprove a scoffer,
or he will hate you.
Reprove a wise man,
a meek man,
and he will love you.
Give instruction to a wise man,
a meek man,
and he will be wiser still.
Teach a righteous man,
a meek man,
and he will increase in learning.
If you've got something
you're pointing out in my life,
it'll help me be more like Christ,
of course,
tell me.
I love God.
I want to live for Him.
And I'll humble myself
when you're put in your place
by God's grace.
You'll welcome correction.
I couldn't think of an example
in the life of Jesus
where He was defensive
and resisted.
Well, He never sinned,
so He never needed to be corrected.
But I couldn't think of
any kind of defensiveness in Him.
He was open and welcoming to people.
Fifth thing,
because you've been paid,
you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
you will be a giver
and not a taker.
You'll be generous,
not greedy.
In Acts 20,
Paul is talking to the elders
of Ephesus,
and at the end he says,
remember the poor,
and then he quotes Jesus,
a quote that's not in any of the Gospels.
He quotes Jesus as saying,
it's better to give than to receive.
And Jesus is the greatest of all givers.
He gave Himself for us.
Because you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
you will be a giver,
not a taker.
The things that have been trusted to me
are not my own.
I'll be a good steward
for the glory of God.
Sixth thing,
because you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
you'll be courageous for Christ,
not ashamed of Christ.
Remember,
meekness starts
with a heart for God.
And so,
if I've been put in my place
by God's grace,
if He has radically changed my world,
I no longer live for myself,
but for Him,
who for His sake,
for my sake,
died and was raised from the dead.
I live for Him.
Jesus says this in Luke 9,
For whoever is ashamed of me
and of my words,
of Him the Son of Man
will be ashamed
when He comes in His glory.
We are part of His kingdom.
We live for our King.
We're not ashamed of Him,
even though we'll get ridiculed for it.
But you've been put in your place
by God's grace.
So be courageous for Christ.
Open your mouth.
I believe,
therefore I spoke.
The last thing I want you to see is,
because you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
speak the truth in love
to your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Don't sweep sin under the carpet.
Love them.
Love them with your words.
Jesus said in John 8,
If you abide in my word,
you are truly my disciples,
and you will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free.
The meek are willing to speak.
The meek,
because they love God
more than anything else
and are wanting to live with Him,
they will love their brothers
and sisters in Christ
and speak what they need to hear
in love
so that they would be set free.
Because you've been put in your place
by God's grace,
you speak the truth in love.
Seven things,
not exhaustive,
but just ways to be thinking
what meekness looks like
in relation to other people.
If I'm meek towards God,
I'm going to be meek towards others.
If I'm humble towards God,
I'm going to be humble towards others.
The way of the meek
is the Jesus way.
It's not the doormat way.
It's the God-centered way.
God at the center of all things.
The way of meekness.
The last point on this,
in this sermon,
is God's promise to the meek.
If you turn back to Matthew 5.5,
we read,
blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.
The meek are promised something.
They are promised to inherit the earth.
What does that mean?
Well, let me just say this.
We need to be reminded of this
over and over again
because we have the tendency
to want to give up.
It's hard being meek.
It's hard being humble.
And what Jesus provides for us here
is something that gives us hope.
The best way to understand this,
the fulfillment of this promise,
is to think in terms of
the timeline when Jesus comes back.
Remember, we live in between
Jesus' first coming and His second coming.
As theologians talk about it,
we live between the already and the not yet.
We are already citizens
of the kingdom of heaven,
but the fullness of the kingdom
has not yet arrived,
but it will.
So we live in between those.
Right now, Jesus gives us new life.
He changes us.
He makes us new creations
from the inside out.
2 Corinthians 5.
But when He comes back,
I'm not sure if you're aware of this,
when Jesus comes back,
He's going to recreate
the heavens and the earth.
The old things will pass away.
And He will make all things new
on the earth.
Revelation 21.
A new earth.
A new earth no longer groaning
under sin.
He's going to make all things new
on the earth for us.
To possess.
To enjoy.
Forever.
With Him.
It just gets better.
God's people in His place
with Him.
Forever.
Awesome.
Give me some of that.
You know,
at His second coming,
when He returns,
He's going to distribute
parcels of the new earth.
I don't know how He's going to do it.
I was just trying to imagine
this past week.
Is it like,
you know,
when He comes back,
hey,
anybody who wants
some of the new Hawaii,
kind of line up here.
Ready?
Go!
First come,
first serve.
I don't think that's the Jesus way.
when He comes back
and hands out
new parcels
of the new earth,
this is my best shot at it.
He's going to say,
Michael,
I've got something for you.
I made it for you.
For you to enjoy forever.
It's yours.
This parcel of the new earth,
it's for you.
Enjoy.
And by the way,
I'm here too.
So,
like,
will my new earth parcel
be the new earth Waikiki
kind of a thing?
Will I be there for a million years?
And then God will say,
okay,
we're going to move you
to the new earth Rockies cabin
kind of thing
for another million years.
I don't know.
Here's what I do know.
No eye has seen
nor ear heard
nor heart
imagine
what God has prepared
for those who love Him.
First Corinthians 2.
It's better than anything
you imagine.
Here's what I also know.
The meekness and the gentleness
we demonstrate now
is countercultural
to the world we live in.
It's countercultural
to the arrogance
and harshness
of this world.
According to the values
and ethics
of this present age,
you are to leverage
all you got
to get
all you can
regardless of what it does
to others.
that's how,
according to the world system,
you inherit
the earth.
But that's not how
citizens of Christ's kingdom
live.
Because we've been put
in our place
by God's grace,
we are gentle
and tenderhearted
towards God
and others.
We're not
banking
on a reward
on this side
of glory.
We're banking
on Christ's
promise
of a new earth
parcel
when He returns.
It does our hearts good.
So we live
in this present age
for a future
eternal inheritance.
Back in the 1800s,
people would pack up
their prairie schooners
and go from Maine
to Montana.
They'd be given
a deed
of a parcel
of land
and they would
suffer through it
until they got there
and then suffer more,
of course.
The Christian,
this promise
is our deed.
You've got a parcel
in the new earth
waiting for you,
meek one.
So press on
and endure.
The promise
of this future
inheritance
in the new earth.
This is our blessing.
It keeps us going.
Jesus is there.
The meek know
that they've been put
in their place
by God's grace
and it changes
the way that we relate
with others.
and now
we look,
we persevere,
we're eager for
when Jesus returns.
Blessed are the meek
for they shall inherit
the earth.
God in heaven,
thank you so much.
Thank you so much
that you have
inscripturated
these words
of Jesus for us.
God, would you
help us
make us meek.
God, would you
help us
remember,
incline our hearts
to the new earth.
We can bank on it.
We ask these things
in the name of Jesus.
Amen.