Inheriting The Earth

All right, just to make sure we're all on the same page this morning, very quick review.
We saw last week that to be meek is not the same as being shy or being weak or being
a helpless victim, instead being meek, the dictionary definition, being humbly patient
or submissive, especially under provocation when the pressure is on.
Another way of putting it, being meek is an absence of pride and self-importance and
a willingness to live humbly and gently.
And then we looked at four practical examples of what living meekly looks like, an absence
of arrogance or an absence of a know-it-all attitude.
A desire to know and to do God's will, open to criticism and correction and a confidence
in God when we are wronged that He will defend us, that He is our shield and the lifter
of our heads.
That brings us this morning then in part two of this message to the very practical question,
what happens when we live this way?
What happens when meekness becomes a way of life for you and for me?
Well obviously what happens is that we inherit the earth.
For Matthew 5.5 says, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."
Now notice the emphasis there on inheriting the earth.
If I were to ask you this morning as a believer, "Where do you expect to spend eternity?"
The chances are pretty good that you would say, "I expect to spend eternity in heaven."
Would you not?
We often talk as Christians about going to heaven, and that's not all wrong because the
Bible does clearly teach that when the believer dies, he or she goes to be with Jesus.
Paul talks about that in Philippians chapter 1 when he says, "For me to live as Christ,
to die as gain.
If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me, yet what shall
I choose?
I do not know.
I am torn between the two.
I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better."
To the thief on the cross, the Lord Jesus said, "Today you will be with me in paradise."
There's a good strong biblical argument for saying that when we die, our spirits go to
be with Jesus in heaven with all of the saints of God.
That's not to say, however, that heaven is our eternal destiny because the Scripture
talks repeatedly about inheriting the earth.
Listen to this verse from the book of Revelation.
This is Revelation chapter 21, the second-last chapter in Scripture.
I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away
and there was no longer any sea.
I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the Throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men,
and he will live with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with
them and be their God."
The dwelling of God is with men.
The Holy City, the New Jerusalem, which is really the church of God, the temple of the
living God comes out of heaven and it comes to a renewed earth.
And whatever form that takes of a new heaven and a new earth, it is the earth then that
becomes the final abode of God's people and God dwelling with his people.
And that becomes the completion of the original creation when God walked with Adam and Eve
in the garden and made his home with him.
Most are the meek, says Jesus, for they will inherit the earth, kind of hard to get our
heads around.
But it will be pretty good.
Don't worry about it.
No pollution, no oceans to drown in, all the mariners will be out of work.
The sea, of course, in the book of Revelation always represents the power of evil.
And when the book of Revelation says there will be no sea, it says that Satan's power, the
waters of chaos are completely overcome and completely defeated and as we'll see a little
bit later, it will be a place of true shalom and peace.
Now it is this earth then that God's people are going to inherit and this inheriting of
the earth has I think three levels of fulfillment.
And in the time that remains to us this morning, let me try to walk you through each of those.
The first level of inheriting the earth, I believe, is contentment in the here and now.
Psalm 37 verse 11 says, "The meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace."
Now think this through with me a little bit.
Where does this content in our lives come from?
Well it typically comes from a lack of meekness, doesn't it?
It comes from thinking more highly of ourselves than we want to be thinking.
I think I'm a great husband or a great wife and so I expect to be treated accordingly.
I think I'm a great employee for my boss and so I expect him to regard me and to compensate
me accordingly.
I think maybe I'm a leading member of the body of Christ and my opinions ought to account
perhaps more than the opinions of other people.
And when those things don't happen, when I'm taken for granted, then discontent begins
to arise within my heart and I get annoyed and I get irritable and I lose my sins of
peace.
And the funny thing is it doesn't matter how much you have or how little you have, it
is all comparative.
The more other people have around you, the easier it is to be discontent.
You know, if you live in Africa and nobody else has got anything, then you're content
with a little that you've got.
These kids that get their Christmas boxes will be just delighted.
As your kids or my kids given a similar box for Christmas, they're going to pull up their
noses and they're going to say, well, is that all I'm getting?
You know, 10 pencils and 10 pens?
Come on, where's my latest Nintendo?
It's relative, it's comparative.
And as long as there is an absence of meekness in your life or in my life, as long as we think
we deserve more than what we're getting, we're always going to be discontent.
The book of Proverbs says there are three things that are never satisfied, four that never
say enough, the grave, the barren womb, land which is never satisfied with water and fire
which never says enough.
And so the antidote to discontent is biblical meekness.
If I'm poor in spirit, if I know that I have no claim on God and I have no right to anything,
if I mourn deeply because I know how far short I fall and that I deserve nothing before
the face of God, and if I have learned to live humbly that way before God and in relationship
with my fellow human beings, well then, I don't expect
anything and when I don't expect anything, when I don't demand anything, then I am more
than blessed with whatever the Lord offers me in the course of my life.
Now that's not to say that we have to settle for where we find ourselves, nor does that
mean that we can never strive for more but what I'm saying is that if we are truly meek,
truly humble before God, truly humble before one another, then I don't have to strive
for more than what I've got and if I'm not striving for more than what I've got, I can
be marvelously content with what God has already given me.
I love this little story, it's the story of a Western businessman at a pier of a small
South Pacific Island village when an island fisherman docked his small canoe.
He had a number of large fish in his boat and the Western businessman complimented the
islander and the quality of his fish and asked him how long it took to catch them and the
islander replied only a little while.
The American then asked him why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?
The islander said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.
The businessman then asked but what do you do with the rest of your time?
Well the fisherman said I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a late
afternoon nap with my wife Helia, a stroll into the village each evening where I sit
rum and play guitar with my friends, I have a full and busy life.
While the businessman scoffed I have a Harvard MBA and could help you.
You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds by a bigger boat and with the proceeds
from the bigger boat you could buy several boats eventually you'd have a fleet of fishing
boats.
Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor eventually
opening your own cannery you would control the product processing and distribution.
You would need to leave this small fishing village and move to Australia then to Los Angeles
and eventually to New York City while you will run your expanding enterprise.
And the South Seas fisherman asked but how long will this all take to which the American
replied well about 15 or 20 years.
But then what?
The businessman laughed and he said that's the best part when the time is right.
You could announce an initial public offering of your stock and sell your company to the
public and you'd become very rich.
You'd make millions, millions of the fishermen then what?
Well the American said then you could retire, move to a small fishing village where you would
sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a leg after a new nap with your wife
stroll to the village in the evenings where you would sip rum and play your guitar with
your friends.
Paul put it this way, he said I have learned the secret of being content in any and every
situation whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want I can do everything
through him who gives me strength.
Mr. Ronnie says writing to Timothy we brought nothing into the world, we could take nothing
out of it but if we have food and clothing we will be content with that.
Inheriting the earth means a measure of contentment that people who are not meek will never
fully understand.
Secondly it means experiencing the blessings of God in the here and now.
We read in Psalm 37 verse 9, evil men will be cut off but those who hope in the Lord will
inherit the land.
It's true of course that in a fallen human world the inheritance most frequently seems
to go to those who are loud and brash and strong and arrogant.
And one of the reasons we have such a difficult time believing the truth of Scripture is that
it seems so contrary to our experience at the same time we need to remember.
Scripture says that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof and the race is not
to the swift and the battle is not to the strong but those whose ways please go odd.
And so if I walk in humility and meekness before the Lord then there are certain blessings
that I can expect him to bring into my life even now.
The Apostle Paul says that godliness is not only good for the life that is to come but
it's also good for this life.
Actually there are four things that immediately came to my mind this past week as I was working
on this as examples of how we may expect the Lord to bless us as we walk before him in meekness.
Let me run you through those just very quickly.
I can expect the Lord's presence in my life.
This is what the high and lofty one says we read in the book of Isaiah, "He who lives
forever whose name is holy, I live in a high and holy place but also with him who is
contrite and lowly in spirit to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart
of the contrite."
God's promise to those who are truly meek is that he will be with them always even to
the end of the age.
The Lord's guidance in my life, Psalm 25 verse 9 in the King James Version, "The meek
he will guide in judgment and the meek he will teach his way."
Makes sense, doesn't it?
As long as you and I are stubbornly going our own way, aren't open to learning or to
be incorrect, then nobody can direct us where like a stubborn ox or a stubborn mule who
insists on following his or her own path.
But when we're meek, when we humble our hearts before God, then God promises by his word
and through his spirit and the circumstances of our lives to guide us in his way.
Not a good thing does the Lord withhold from those who seek him.
The Lord's vindication, Psalm 135 verse 14, "The Lord will vindicate His people and have
compassion on His servants."
To be vindicated is to be proven right.
And one of the fears that we have in terms of living meekly before one another and before
the face of God is that somebody who is bigger, stronger, more powerful, more influential
than I is going to win the day, and I will suffer loss.
And in a fallen world, that is the truth.
Except in Christ, when we are redeemed, He is our rock and our shield and our defender,
and He comes to our aid.
And He is the one who will justify us and who will lift us up.
And then, of course, there is the Lord's exaltation.
The Lord takes pleasure in His people we read in Psalm 149.
He adorns or he crowns the humble with victory.
For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up Psalm
75 says, "But it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up and other."
And of course, the Bible is filled with examples of people who walked in meekness before God
and whom God raised up and gave a position of significant influence and authority.
Coming back to Joseph, despised, rejected by his brothers, imprisoned in jail, raised
up by God in the fullness of time to become the prime minister of Egypt.
Think of King David.
You know, look down on by his older brothers, just a young lad left in the field tending
his sheep, not the kind of soldier that armies would be looking for.
And yet God reached into his life, took him from behind the sheep, brought him into the
army, made him a commander, and eventually lifted him up to become King of all Israel.
And there are many, many stories like that, stories in Scripture, stories in history, stories
of men and women who didn't strive for position, who didn't strive for power.
But who nevertheless received it because they were people who are meek.
And if one of the reasons for that is that God elevates those who are meek, that elevation
does not take place in the abstract.
As you see, what happens when you're meek is that even while there are wicked people
who will take advantage of you and who will try to trod you into the ground, most people
with biblical kind of meekness, we're not talking now about shyness, we're not talking
now about weakness that we've talked about earlier, no, but a truly meek person, people
gravitate towards because they're not a threat.
And so often you will find that the wife who is most meek in the biblical sense of the
word paradoxically has the most freedom in her relationship with her husband.
And you will find that the employee who exercises the greatest degree of biblical meekness
is the one the boss gravitates towards and can elevate into a higher position.
Likewise in a church community, it is those who manifest a true meekness of spirit.
Now all in the biblical sense of the word, who will often receive the greatest responsibility
and with it the greatest sense of authority in their lives and in their ministries.
That's not an accident.
That's not an accident because a person who is truly meek doesn't pose a challenge,
isn't always bucking authority, can be trusted to carry out the mandates that are given
to that person and therefore enjoy the greatest degree of freedom.
That's paradoxical, isn't it?
But you can look at your own life and you look at the people that you can trust and the
people that you give a lot of freedom to and I'll guarantee you it's people who have
this quality of biblical meekness, not weakness, not an absence of personality, not a, you
know, I'm a doormat and you can do to me whatever you want.
No, no, a person who is strong like a tamed horse but who knows his or her place in life
before God and within the authority structures in which he or she finds himself or herself,
making sense and what I'm trying to say here.
Very important for us to understand, very counterintuitive.
But I'll never forget a number of years ago, a good friend of mine, she's now passed away,
a year or two back, after we did a series of teachings on what Christian headship for
a husband means and what submission for a Christian wife means in a healthy biblical relationship.
And she was one of those who had always been in competition with her husband, there was
always strife between the two and the light went on in her mind and she came back to me
months and months later and she said, I wish somebody would have told me this years ago
when we first married because the closing years of their lives in that sense were much
happier with much greater freedom because she had begun to understand biblical meekness.
So there's contentment in the here and now, there are blessings in the here and now.
And then of course, biblically speaking, we receive our full inheritance in the life
to come. The Bible says we are heirs of God and coal heirs with Christ and Christ you
will recall has received all authority in heaven and on earth.
And the Bible teaches very clearly that this present creation, both the earth and all
that is upon it and all of the universe as it exists today is slated for one big bonfire.
The Bible calls it the day of the Lord and says it will come like a thief, the heavens
will pass away with a loud noise and the elements will be dissolved with fire and the earth
and the works that are upon it will be burned up and Peter goes on to say but in keeping
with his promise we're looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
The reason for that is that this present creation which is under the authority of the human
race is sold out to sin and is so polluted by the reality of sin that it is ultimately
beyond redemption.
And so in the fullness of time when God's patience will have run out when all the nations
of the world will have had an opportunity to hear the gospel and to respond to it, there
is going to come a time when God unleashes the judgment of God upon this present creation
and it's going to burn with fire and God is going to make a new heaven and a new earth
in which righteousness reigns.
Now we can only imagine what that's going to look like but we get some clues in Scripture
as to what happens when you and I inherit this new world order.
We're going to share fully in God's presence forever.
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men and he
will live with him and they will be his people and God himself will be with them and be
their God."
It goes on to say that he will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things
has passed away.
To be in the presence of God is to be like a child at its mother's breast or a toddler
holding on to his father's hand. It will be a time and a place of complete security,
a time and place of complete joy that will make everything we have ever suffered or experienced
in this life fade away as being insignificant for the joy that has been set before us.
We will experience his presence forever and we will also share forever his glory.
For Scripture says in the book of Romans chapter 5 verse 2 through him that is through
Christ we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in our hope
of sharing the glory of God.
Now, again, it's hard to capture the glory of God, but it represents the fullness of
his authority, it represents the fullness of his power, it represents the fullness of
his majesty and God's intention in the new creation is that those of us who have become
his children through faith in Jesus are going to sit on thrones ruling with him over his
new creation.
Again, I can't fully imagine what that looks like, but again, we get glimpses because
this present creation and how it's structured is sort of a foretaste of what is to come
and if you think of how we strive for comfort and for significance and for influence and
how glad we are when we receive a promotion and how anxiously we want to live in a better
home or drive a better car or hold a higher position in a company or whatever.
All of that is but a pale reflection of what happens in the life to come.
For each of us, I'm convinced from Scripture, we'll have an area of authority and responsibility
where we will have become so subject to God and to his authority that God can entrust
us to rule over the new creation.
His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
When God says do this or when God says do that or when God says do the other thing, he
won't have to contend with the rebelliousness that is so much a part of your life in my life
today.
I mean, it'll be heaven for God himself because finally people will have learned his wisdom
and it will be a place of perfect peace and shalom because it's all being orchestrated
from that divine throne where God sits.
And once you understand that, you understand why learning meekness in the here and now is
so incredibly important because why would God entrust eternal riches to you and to me if
he hasn't first instilled in us an ability to hear his voice and a willingness to do his
will and to let him be gone, we will share fully forever the glory of God.
And I believe Scripture teaches that the size of our inheritance in that day is determined
by the degree of our faithfulness to what God has assigned to us in this life because Jesus
talks about that repeatedly in the context of stewardship.
If you're faithful over little, I will put you over much, but if you're not faithful
in the little that I give you, I can put you over much.
That's why living the Christian life in obedience before God is incredibly important because
it sets the stage for the life that is to come and that glory will last forever.
So we'll share God's presence, we'll share his glory and then I believe we will be completely
fulfilled.
We read in the Psalms, Psalm 17, "And I, in righteousness, I shall see your face.
When I wake, I shall be satisfied with seeing your likeness."
And Isaiah many years earlier said, "Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who
love her rejoices greatly with her, all you who mourn over her.
For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts.
You will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance."
We have glimpses of that every so often in the here and out all the way.
Those moments when, like the eagle on the updraft, we catch the wind of the Holy Spirit.
Those moments where you feel that you're really flying.
Those moments when you're operating in your sweet spot, when things go really well, and
you can fully live by throwing yourself into whatever it is that you're doing and you
know that you have the pleasure of God because you are moving in the power of the Holy Spirit.
You know what I'm talking about?
In this life that never lasts very long, does it?
Because for every moment where we have that sense of, "I'm really flying, I'm really
soaring."
It doesn't take very long to discover the law of gravity is still very much there.
And in this life, no matter what it is that we accomplish, no matter how much of God's
favor we experience, we discover every so often.
There's still a snake in the garden, and there is still a thorn in the flesh, and there
are still significant pockets of pain, places of discipline, places where we mourn and
weep and cry because we are not yet.
Everything that God would have us be.
But in that day, when Jesus comes in glory, and when He makes all things near you, and
when salvation will have been fully accomplished for you and me, when Satan and all the hosts
of darkness will have been thrown in the lake of fire.
In that day, we will fly on wings like eagles.
We will be satisfied to the fall.
We will fit exactly with our calling and our gifting in the place that God has designed
for us.
Don't ever think you're just going to sit up there strumharve, sprout wings, and sport
halos.
There's a job to do in the new creation.
And if we take pleasure today in flying into the fullness of our inheritance now, imagine
the joy, the liberty, and the freedom of what's going to happen in the age to come.
Every tear wiped away, every broken place mended, every place that sabotages are living
now, pushed out of the way.
No more Satan, no more world to drag us down, no more flesh, sinfully pulling us down into
destruction, but filled with Jesus Christ and His glory.
We will fly, and we will finally love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our
soul, all of our strength, and all of our mind.
And we will finally be able to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
We say, "How do I know?"
We know because we have Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels,
now crowned with glory and honor, because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God,
He might taste death for everyone.
Jesus knew what it was to be meek, and He demonstrated it by giving Himself over to the
authorities, and by humbling Himself in a Roman cross even to the point of death.
But God did not abandon Him, because Scripture goes on to say, "Therefore, God has highly
exalted Him, to the highest place, and given Him the name that is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and in the earth and under the earth
that every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
To be a Christian is to be a Christ follower, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit
the earth.
I can only imagine what it will be like when I walk, and by His sight I can only imagine
what my eyes will see when they face years before me.
I can only imagine I can only imagine what it will be like when I walk, and by His sight
I can only imagine what my eyes will see when they face years before me.
I can only imagine, surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel when I dance for
Jesus, all right all of you be still, will I stand in your presence or to my knees will
I fall, will I say, "The hallelujah, will I be able to speak it all like I know the
magic, I can only imagine I can only imagine when that day comes and I find myself standing
in the sun, I can only imagine when all I would do is forever, forever worship you, I
can only imagine, I can only imagine, I can only imagine, I can only imagine what my
heart feels when I dance for Jesus, all right all of you be still, will I stand in your
presence, or to my knees will I fall, will I say, "The hallelujah, will I be able to speak
it all like I know the magic, I can only imagine when that day comes and I find myself
standing in the sun, I can only imagine when that day comes and I find myself standing
in the sun, I can only imagine, I can only imagine when that day comes and I find myself
standing in the sun, I can only imagine, I can only imagine, I can only imagine, I can only
imagine when all I would do is forever, forever worship you, I can only imagine.