Inheriting the Earth

SERMON: 2006-10-21--sm0604--inheriting-the-earth-1 SOURCE DURATION: 00:40:20.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.95 APPROVED: false REASON: All provided candidates contain continuous speech that appears to be part of the sermon's conclusion or application (theological exposition). Since there is no clear transition to music, a hymn, an announcement, or unrelated room audio within these segments, the final candidate is selected as the last piece of sermon content. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:35:32.960-00:40:16.480 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- Few of the Beatitudes, I think, more starkly show the contrast between God's wisdom and worldly wisdom than does Beatitude number three. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Think it through with me for just a moment. In the world, how do you inherit the world? Well, you inherit it by drawing on your natural strength, your natural ability. You train it, you fine-tune it, you aggressively step out into the arena, toe-to-toe and head-to-head with whatever opponents you face, and may the best man, may the best woman win. Well, Jesus says in the kingdom of God, that's not how it works. The inheritance does not go to the strong, it doesn't go to the powerful, instead it goes to the meek. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Of course, immediately raises the question, what does it mean to be meek? And because sometimes a negative can be as helpful as a positive, let me again begin this morning by pointing out what meek does not mean. To be meek is not to be naturally shy or reticent. And there are, of course, people like that, aren't there? They're just naturally shy, they hold back, they're never in your face, they put their best foot forward, they do their best just to please other people, and of course that's not all bad, because people like that are often very pleasant to get along with. But where that comes out of their own flesh, it is usually governed by self-preservation and a natural hesitation to engage life, it's a coping mechanism driven by fear, fear of offending others, fear of not being liked, fear of losing your friends, fears of being found out, and so like a chameleon, they adapt to their surroundings in a desperate attempt to survive. It might look like meekness, but it is not. It's not a natural shyness, nor is it being weak. To be weak is to lack strength and conviction. You have no backbone, no courage, you're unable to stand up against whatever comes your way, that's not the same as being meek, even though a lot of people confuse being meek with being weak. As a matter of fact, I would make the argument that one of the reasons so many people are offended by the teachings of Jesus, and a lot of people aren't drawn to the message of the gospel, is because they have this stereotypical image of being weak, this invitation to lay aside your strength, this idea that somehow or another you're going to be particularly for males less than a man. Well that argument doesn't stand up in the face of scripture, because if you look at the people in the Bible who were particularly singled out as being meek, you will discover they are far from being weak. Take Moses, the Bible says concerning Moses in the Old Testament that he was very meek, more than all men that were in the face of the earth. You could never say that Moses was a weak man, the way that he stood up to Pharaoh, the way that he led the children of Israel through the wilderness, the way that he fought for the inheritance of God's people, Moses was a man of incredible strength, even while he was extremely meek. When you go to the New Testament you discover the Lord Jesus says concerning himself that he is meek and lowly and he invites you and me to become like him, but don't ever confuse the meekness of Jesus with weakness, because Jesus had plenty of backbone, he was not afraid to stand up for righteousness, he was not afraid to take on the political and the religious rulers of his day, and yet the Bible says he was meek, and the Apostle Paul says concerning himself in the New Testament by the meekness and gentleness of Christ I appeal to you. And the Apostle Paul by no stretch of the imagination can be called weak, to be meek is not the same as being weak, even though in the popular mind that is often the confusion. And then being meek does not mean that you are a helpless victim. Sometimes people get that impression, particularly when they read later on in Matthew 5 teachings like you know, somebody strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also, somebody wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well, somebody forces you to go with him one mile, go with him two miles, give to the one who asks of you, do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. We read verses like that in the Sermon on the Mount, and we think the invitation that Jesus has given us is an invitation to become a helpless victim, we say to ourselves well if you live that way, everybody is going to walk all over you, and we all know that if you allow people to walk all over you, that is exactly what they are going to do. But if you look carefully at those verses, you will discover that in each of those verses, the verb is in the imperative. That is to say you make the choice to turn the other cheek, you make the choice of giving your cloak as well or going the extra mile, nobody is taking it away from you, you are freely giving it out of obedience to God and out of a sense of calling. Jesus said concerning his death on the cross, nobody is taking my life away from me, I am laying it down. You see to be meek is not to be a helpless victim, it is not to be a doormat, it is not to allow people to walk all over you. I was struck the other day by a little story, a fellow by the name of Jay Upton Dixon founded a group of submissive people called Doormats, and Doormats stands for dependent organization of really meek and timid souls, if there are no objections. And their motto was the meek shall inherit the earth, if that is okay with everybody. And their symbol is a yellow traffic light. To be meek is not to be that kind of helpless victim. Well if that is what it is not, then what does it mean to be meek? Well, the word meek comes from a Greek word that is often translated as mild and gentle. It was often used in connection with taming a wild horse, and already there you begin to catch some of the paradox because a tamed wild horse has not lost its strength, no its strength has come under submission and is now usable as opposed to wild brute force that cannot be harnessed for a purpose. And so the dictionary definition of meek is to be humbly patient or submissive, especially under provocation. Martin Lloyd Jones, I love his definition, he says to be meek is to have a true view of myself expressed in an attitude of submission towards God and forbearance and gentleness to other people. Still another way of wording it is to say to be meek is an absence of pride and self importance and a willingness to live humbly and gently. Sir Winston Churchill captured it well when he was once asked, doesn't it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech the hall is packed to overflowing? Well he replied it's quite flattering, but whenever I feel that way I always remember that if instead of making a political speech I was being hanged the crowd would be twice as large. That sort of helps you put in perspective when your head swells. An absence of pride and self importance and a willingness to live humbly and gently. Let's try to flesh that out a little bit now because practically speaking that means this. It means first of all an absence of arrogance or an absence of a know it all attitude. We've all met people like that, perhaps sometimes we ourselves in company are people like that though chances are we don't see ourselves that way. People who are confident about their opinion on every subject they need to pontificate and they always lead the argument and they think their thoughts are better and more knowledgeable than anybody else's. To be meek is to know that no matter how much I may know no matter how informed my opinion may be in the total scheme of things I know very little indeed and there are many others all around me who know much more than I do and so therefore it behooves me to listen more than I speak it behooves me to take in other people's opinions weigh them and learn from them. A person who is truly meek shows that meekness in an attitude of teachability. You can take that person by the hand and they're willing to learn from people all around. In that way I might add that I just skipped over that a little bit, Beatitude number three really builds on the first two Beatitudes because you will notice again there is a logical progression it begins with being poor in spirit. I know that what I am and what I have to offer is never enough before God I need his grace and his power understanding that I am nothing leads me to mourning because now I recognize how far short I fall of the glory of God and how impossibly difficult it is for me to be anything close to what God would have me be and the more I try the more I fail and the more I'm driven by faith to Jesus well understand that if I know what it is to be poor in spirit if I know what mourning for my sin is before God then meekness is a quality that automatically follows out of that because that drives how I live before God and how I relate to other people that's why you can't take these Beatitudes and just start somewhere in the middle. Now you need to begin at the beginning and then as by faith in Jesus you discover his saving grace you can learn how to deal with your sin you can grieve and yet be joyful and comforted at the same time and as you learn to live that way you know that you don't have to prove anything before anybody else you don't need to try to demonstrate your arrogance because humility before God and before me and now becomes the defining principle of your life blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth so it means an absence of arrogance not only but it also means a desire to know and do God's will if I know that I'm not enough if I know that I'm grieving because of my failure if I really love God and want to honor him then I'm gonna do whatever I can to try to get to know him and to please him since he's God and I'm not since we've come into a proper understanding of how the universe works I'm dust he is eternal then I bow before his will I learn to accept whatever it is that he sends my way knowing that in Christ he loves me intensely and even though it may seem very painful at the moment it comes through his hands of love and having understood that he is God and I am not then I want to seek what it is that he wants me to do here because I don't know the way and he does know the way then I'm gonna study scripture I'm gonna attend worship services where the word of God is being taught or Bible studies where scripture is opened up you see in my arrogance I may know how to do life until God convicts me that I don't know how to do life apart from Jesus and that drives me to my knees and that makes me look for him and that makes me hunger after his word when I want to know how to do marriage when I want to know how to raise my children if I want to know how to do my business if I want to know how to relate to my employer or to my employee or how to relate to the world it drives me to my knees it drives me to the scriptures and then I receive from scripture what God has to say to me James you will recall talks about receiving with meekness the implanted word how often don't you and I set ourselves up as judges over the word of God we say well it's that smorgasbord effect that we've talked about earlier I think I'll take this I like what he has to say about this part of my life and I like this and and I like this but but this I don't like and this part I really hate and so all of us set ourselves up before God as judges over God that is the epitome of arrogance because God will not lead those who are arrogant the scripture says the meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way so ask yourself the question this morning with regard to meekness how much of a new at all attitude do I carry with me how much pride do I have in in what I know about scripture or life or doctrine and ask yourself the question how hungry am I for God to show me how to do life in a way that truly honors him one of the reasons we gather in a place like this as I said recently when must the rest of the world sleeps in and Sunday morning or sits around drinking their coffee and maybe watching television is because we know we need to hear from God how to do life in a way that leads to blessing and Jesus says this is how you do it you humble yourself before God gets worse good news gets worse it's not only an absence of arrogance it's not only a desire to do God's will but it is an ability to be open to receiving criticism and correction and I dare say this morning there isn't a single place that is a more defining sign of whether or not we are meek than in how we handle criticism and correction and if you've ever been in a situation where somebody comes along and you know they they slap you on the fingers they point out to you attitudes or words or behaviors or belief systems that that aren't right and they speak into your life then you will know that almost immediately and automatically there's a guard that goes up is that not true little man little woman on the inside begins to stand up and you can come up with a thousand and one reasons why they're wrong and you're right and you know what you might even be right and they might even be wrong but it's that attitude of being resistant to criticism and resistant to correction that is an indication of pride it is not an indication of the humility that comes with meekness because see think at it from a biblical point of view if I really am poor in spirit that is to say I know that I haven't got what it takes if I really grieve because I know I haven't got what it takes and I'm driven to Jesus and now I have become meek in my relationships with other people then if you come along and you criticize me or correct me you're no longer my enemy you're my friend and that shows you how far we all have to go in terms of growing into meekness because that is so foreign to most of us that we can't even begin to appropriate that kind of reaction and yet scripture says faithful are the wounds of a friend see if I really know that I'm a sinner in need of grace and in need of salvation then if you come along and you agree with God about my situation then I would gladly receive that as opposed to rejecting it and again it shows how much we need to grow in Jesus to even begin to get our heads around that kind of a biblical notion and surely one of the tests of our Christian maturity is how we respond in situations where we are not only being criticized fairly it's one thing to receive that but when we're being criticized unfairly and the humility of Jesus needs to grow in our hearts and in our lives so it's an absence of arrogance it's the desire to know and to do God's will it means that we are willing to be open to criticism and to correction I can tell you from a pastoral point of view I know how hard it is to receive criticism myself but I know how people can turn against you and how quickly they can turn against you if you speak into their lives and invite them to live consistently with their confession to follow Jesus and one of the characteristics of a mature Christian body is that we can speak the truth in love to one another knowing that our aim is to be more and more like Jesus well it still gets worse I hate to tell you because the fourth practical way of working that out is in trusting God to defend us and again if you've ever been in a situation where you have not only been criticized but you have been attacked somebody's come after you and they've wanted to do you in and there isn't a shred of love in it and they have power over you then you will not only know the terrible pain of feeling like a victim where do I go for deliverance but you will know that everything inside you rises up and you want to fight for everything that you're worth and when somebody wants to blacken your reputation if somebody wants to destroy your security or significant relationships in your life or somebody tries to muscle in into your place in life or in relationships then you will know that automatically again on the inside this whole program begins to run and you start trying to figure out how do I survive not only in this battle but how do I come out on top nobody needs to teach you and me that because it is native to the sons and the daughters of Adam and Eve we all fight for our place but if you look at scripture and if you look at the Lord Jesus then you discover that the Lord Jesus though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped or a thing to be taken by force instead he humbled himself as a slave even to death and across because he put his hope and his trust in God and many years later the Apostle Peter put it this way in the context of Christian suffering and how Christians ought to respond to the abuses of a pagan government that was persecuting them he says Christ suffered for you leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps now listen to this he committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth when they hurled their insults at him he did not retaliate when he suffered he made no threats instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly now listen to that carefully there was no sin in him there was no deceit in his mouth in other words he wasn't guilty of any of the things that he ever got accused of now you and me when we get accused there's almost always some grain of truth somewhere few of us are completely blameless or without fault in controversies or difficulties that we encounter Jesus got insulted simply because of his righteousness and whereas you and I would be inclined to think of how can I get even the Bible says he didn't retaliate and when you and I under the pain of suffering make threats I'm going to get you for this or just you wait until I get my opportunity or may God strike you dead he made no threats instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly and there you have the defining principle of what it is to be meek because when I know that I have no rights when I know that I only live by the grace of God that through faith in Jesus I am the child of God and that I belong to God and that God is responsible for defending me then I don't have to defend myself I don't have to fight back in order to hold on to the little that I feel that is being taken away from me because you see typically now listen carefully to this typically the more you defend yourself and the more you fight the deeper a hole you dig and I'll tell you why that is those who are truly your enemies are not going to believe you anyway and the more you explain and the more you try to get out of it the more you are just demonstrating to them in the words of Shakespeare me thinks he doth protest too much you sound guilty because you're so anxious to clear your name far better just to trust in God and to trust God to take care of your reputation and for God to take care of your place because if you're his child if he be for you then it doesn't matter who is against you and if God is in favor of you he can make even your enemies as the book of Proverbs to be addressed with you and those who are your friends they're already persuaded if they truly are your friends and they know you and so typically speaking the model to follow is the model of Jesus when he was dragged before the courts and suffered all kinds of false accusations the Bible says that he was like a lamb led to the slaughter that before its shearers was dumb and he opened not his mouth now if you've ever been in that situation and more than once in my life I've been there I'll tell you that doesn't come natural to the sons and the daughters of Adam because it is so hard to believe that God is really there and that he will really vindicate us as he vindicated Jesus on the glorious day of the resurrection but somebody says does that mean you never explain does that mean you never defend yourself does that mean you never try to give an explanation well no there is one condition in situation where biblically speaking you will find it justified to offer an explanation or a defense actually there are a couple one is before a legal court type situation where the truth needs to be discovered and you are invited to state your case in an instance like that you need to tell the truth and false modesty in that situation does not serve the cause of justice but there is another situation and that is when the well-being of other people demands it because you see what happens with slander and accusation is that because there is always a grain of truth to it there are well-meaning people who get confused and they hear one story they hear another story and after a while even the best of friends and the most committed of Christians begin to wonder well what really happened in that situation did he or did he not did she or did she not and it is in instances like that where our motivation is not simply to clear our name or simply to hold on to our place or simply to receive the praise of man so in those situations where we care about the well-being of those who are being led astray because of accusations made in our direction that we need to to mount a defense and to explain who we are what we did and what is the truth of that situation always being very careful that we don't end up slinging the same kind of mud that is being slung in our direction and a classic illustration of how that works is the Apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians the Apostle Paul on 2nd Corinthians gives us the clearest indication of his own frustration and pain because it is a situation where he has been falsely accused and the people that he led to Christ in that situation have turned against him and they have catered towards false prophets and false apostles who are promising them the whole world but who are trying to win their loyalty for their own purposes and so here you have a church that is being led astray because they are naively being trapped by those who present a gospel that is not really the gospel because it avoids the offense of the cross and if you know the closing verses of 2nd Corinthians some people think it was a separate letter altogether Paul launches into this incredibly spirited defense of himself and he talks about boasting of having been caught up into what the third heaven and how much he has suffered for the gospel and what a great apostle and a prophet you remember the story don't you and you read that and you say to yourself Paul you are a fool in fact he even says that about himself I sound like a fool and then you say to yourself alright Paul aren't you like going over the top here aren't you like not practicing what you preach in terms of trusting God to be your shield and your fortress the glory and the lifter of your head and you'd swear that's what he was doing until you get to verse 19 of chapter 12 of 2nd Corinthians and then he puts your thoughts into words when he says have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you we have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ and everything we do dear friends is why for your strengthening see Paul's not trying to clear his own name he knows what it is to have a good reputation or what it is to have a bad reputation and frankly he doesn't care very much because to him all that matters is do I have God's blessing do I have God's approval but he recognizes that as his name is being slandered as an apostle of God the people that have looked to him are losing their faith and getting off track and so for their well-being and therefore their salvation he mounts this spirited defense and he says I'm defending myself not for my sake but for your sake I want you to know the truth so that you can follow Jesus and not be led astray that makes sense that's very different from defending yourself and whenever you find yourself in a situation where you want to defend yourself then you know you need to go to the Lord and you need to say okay Lord where is this coming from and why am I doing this because if I'm going to be meek in the biblical sense of the word not weak not shy not a helpless victim but if I'm going to be a true Christ follower then Lord I want to be like Jesus I want to learn to put my hope and my trust in God now that's where we're going to stop this morning next time when we come back to this Lord willing we're going to look at what happens when we live this way and we're going to discover that as we live this way according to the teaching of scripture paradoxical as it is we inherit the earth and when we come back [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:35:32.960; remove through 00:40:20.000] to this we're going to see what that [CUT] looks like in the real world and for the age to come we're going to see what that looks like in the real world and for the age to come we're going to see what that looks like in the real world and for the age to come we're going to see what that looks like in the real 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