We are continuing in our sermon series on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  We started 2 weeks ago setting up the context and looking at Jesus’ call for us to acknowledge and own our own spiritual poverty– the fact that we bring nothing righteous to Jesus when we come to Him, but are entirely dependent on His work to make us a part of His Kingdom.  Last week, we talked about the joy which comes to those who mourn over their sin, the comfort of Jesus drawing us near to Himself as we grieve over the loss due to our sin and the sin of those against us.  We want to continue this morning by looking at those who have submitted their strength to Jesus will reap the fullest blessing from God.

I. What does it mean to have the disposition of meekness?

Meek is not weak!!  Meekness begins with humility towards God.  The person who knows they are poor in spirit– they have nothing righteous in and of themselves, but are completely dependent upon Jesus to save them, and the person who mourns over her own sin and the pain it has caused in her life will in fact be humble in her response towards God!  These attitudes and biblical beliefs go together!– poverty in spirit, mourning over sin and meekness. 

Honestly, my experience in working in churches has been that many successful pastors are also fairly arrogant.  Not all, but too many have this idea which subtly infiltrates their thinking that they are the reason their church is growing and doing so well.  Although these ministries may grow in numbers, there will be a point at which God has had enough and no longer blesses their arrogance.  One thing clear about the nature of God is that He will not share His glory with any other!  God is jealous for His glory, and this is right, because He is God and we are not!  Meekness begins with humility.  Let me take a moment and be clear about what humility is and is not, because some people believe humility means beating yourself up all the time– “I am such a no good sinner that even God cannot use me, so woe is me...”  Christians who understand who they are in Christ should have the best self-images of anyone.  God created us and sustains us.  He initiated a relationship with us by His grace.  The reason that God chose us was not that we were doing so well, that God thought we were worthy to be His children!  We weren’t and we aren’t worthy!  We were lost in sin apart from Christ.  Our sin affected every part of who we were!  God, because of His great mercy, looked at the place I would be if He let me continue to run my own way apart from Him, and called me to Himself.  He gave me faith to believe the gospel, and regenerated my own heart.  Yes, I prayed a prayer to receive Christ, but I did this because of God’s grace in my life.  God created me in His own image.  God made me just the way I am, with every gift and every weakness, with crooked teeth and a hairy body.  He delights in me much more than a father delights in his son on earth.  I know how much I love my son.  I know I would do anything to bless and encourage and help my son.  God feels that way about me, only much more strongly!!  He has gifted me for His own purposes, and as I walk with Him, in His plan for me which He has showed to me, then I experience His goodness and participate with Him in His plan to build His Kingdom.  This gives me great joy and biblical confidence to follow Him more fully.  Is this your view of yourself?

So, meekness begins with godly humility, but the word  meekness also carries the idea of gentleness with people.  Women grasp this much more easily than men.  Here, we are fighting some stereotypes of men which come from our culture.  Our culture tells men that real men are strong, domineering, in control, will take charge and make something happen if they are not happy, and will bust you in the face to get what they want.  This idea carries with it a huge amount of arrogance, but also carries with it justification for running over other people who they consider weaker than themselves, whether women, or children or other men.  There is no idea of gentleness in our thoughts when we think about what it looks like to be real man in this culture.  Is this a true image?  Is this the way God created us?  To answer this question, we need to look at Jesus, who was our model for how we should live this life on earth. 

Jesus was anything but weak.  He stood up to the authorities in His day who clung to a religious system instead of to the relationship which God established for us to have with Himself.  He loved everyone, but He was not afraid to rebuke His disciples when that is what they needed.  Jesus was not afraid to confront the most powerful people in His day with truth.  The agony Jesus endured on the cross is even more amazing when you stop to consider that Jesus had the power to come off of the cross.  When Jesus and His disciples were attacked in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter drew a sword to fight and cut off a guy’s ear.  Jesus commanded Peter to stop and healed the man’s ear.  Then He told Peter in Matthew  26:53, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”  A military legion had between 3000 and 6000 men in it.  Jesus had the command of thousands of angelic warriors, but does not ask for their aide when He goes to the cross.  Jesus allowed men to put Him through this incredible agony for your sake and for my sake.  That is a picture of meekness.  Jesus was not weak!  He was incredibly strong.  But His strength was under control of His Father.  Jesus chose to submit His needs and desires to those of His Father, giving us the best example of meekness we can find in the Scriptures. 

Meekness is due to a person’s choice.  The meek person is blessed according to Jesus, meaning the favor and goodness of God will rest upon that person.  We know the areas of strength God has given to us, but we still submit these to Jesus, asking Him exactly how He would have us use our gifts and strengths to build His Kingdom.  This is meekness.  A person who is willing to lay down their strength, if that is what will give their master glory, is a meek person.  The apostle Paul pointed out in the book of Galatians (6:1-2) that church leaders have been given power by God to confront a sinner, but they are to do so with great gentleness, meekness, the same word Jesus uses here.  He recognized the need of the person caught in sin for a gentle hand to restore them, which is always the goal behind discipline of a member.  In another place, Paul tells us that we are to operate in meekness– Ephesians 4:1‑2, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”  In our interaction towards one another, we are to live in humility and gentleness or meekness.  This is necessary in our interaction with others because reconciled relationships is something God holds near to His heart.  He desires for us to live in harmony with one another, which will require maturity and gentleness as we interact together as members of the same body.
Let me use a more modern day idea to illustrate meekness to you.  People who deal with horses call a meek horse one who is very sensitive to the reigns of his master.  There is great strength in a horse– if you don’t believe me, then go hang around a horse barn and watch.  But the horse who can feel the slightest movement in the position of his rider and shifts direction in response to his rider’s wishes is correctly called meek.  A horse can feel a fly on his hind quarter, so certainly knows when the rider wants to do something.  The problem is that many horses, like many people, want to do their own thing, so, although they know their master’s wishes, will not follow them without coercion.  This type of horse is not meek.  Or take a willow tree as it bends to the ground in a strong wind. It does not break, but responds to the push of the wind without losing any of its strength.  Strength submitted to our Master is the correct picture of meekness.  I know who I am in Christ.  I know the strengths which God has given to me and seek to even lay those down so my Lord might be able to use them powerfully for His glory.  I do draw healthy boundaries in relationships, but the attitude I carry as I do this is one of meekness.  It is the truly strong person who is really able to lay down their strength.

II. What does it mean to inherit the earth in this passage?

 This is a fascinating promise by Jesus because one would expect the opposite treatment.  When a person responds in gentleness and humility because they know who they are in Christ and know to whom they belong, one would think that the world would run over them.
In this passage, Jesus is quoting from Psalm 37:11, which tells the godly to not fret about the wicked because it is the meek who will inherit the land, meaning the promised land.  You see, when God’s people came into Canaan, God fought their battles for them.  They still had to put on sword and shield, and still had to walk out the will of God in battle, but He went on ahead of them and showed them the exact route they were to take to win each battle.  As long as they followed His commands and gave Him the glory for battles they won, then they easily won the land at every turn.  The peoples surrounding them knew that the Lord fought for them, because they could not explain what they saw happening in any other way.  The prostitute Rahab tells God’s people that the hearts of her people in Jericho had already melted because they had seen what God had done to fight on behalf of His people. 

This is true today.  Although godless people may throw around their weight to gain financial, political or some other advantage, they never gain peace and happiness.  All things belong to Christ already.  You cannot place a price tag on peace with God and peace with everyone around you.  There is no amount of money I would take in exchange for the wonderful, reconciled relationships I have with my family.  There is nothing anyone in the world can do to take away my peace, my joy, my salvation, unless I let them.  The glory of my life is found in knowing and walking with Jesus, and I literally would not trade places with anyone else in the world.  I lack no good thing.  Part of this gift of God is given because we have sought to be completely faithful in our stewardship of things God has given to us, but the rest is due to the favor of God resting on us. 

There is a progression in thought as Jesus recounts the rewards of those whom He calls blessed, those who take on these Kingdom attitudes.  They move from belonging to the Kingdom of heaven, to being near the King, Jesus and experiencing His comfort, to taking part in His blessings which are a part of the earth or land.  This is not a “name it, claim it” idea, which teaches that it was God’s will for all believers to be wealthy on this earth.  God does promise to provide for all of our needs as we walk with Him by faith.  As we operate motivated by the love of Christ, acting in kindness towards others, there will be kindness extended back to us in most cases.  My favorite Christmas movie is “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  Jimmy Stewart sacrifices much to stay in a small local community to keep a small bank alive so that the people of the city have a decent roof over their heads.  When he gets in trouble because of a mistake by his uncle, no fault of his own, the people of the town rally around him to provide for his need and far beyond.  Jimmy Stewart’s character, George, had a beautiful and adoring wife, a growing and vibrant family, the respect of everyone in the community, including the villain in the movie, Harry Potter, and the love of most everyone there.  This movie illustrates well for us the type of reward Jesus is talking about when He speaks of inheriting the earth or the land, referring to the promised land.  The Scriptures, in many places, speak of possessing all things in Christ. The reason for this is that Christ possesses all things present and future.  The fact is that Christ my King invites me to participate with Him in both building His Kingdom and enjoying with Him the fruit of this world.  However and whatever Jesus wants me to possess, materially, I receive and say “Thank You Lord!  How would You have me steward these things with which You have entrusted me?”  Do I have every technological device?  No.  Am I lacking any good thing I need for my own blessing?  No!  My God has supplied all my needs, according to His riches in glory!!

III. What does it look like day to day to live as meek people?

One commentator told the story of 3 friends from Ethiopia.  One of them had been imprisoned by the old Marxist regime for over a year.  The other two led over 2000 Ethiopian refugees to Christ in a refugee camp.  These Christian men were very poor by our standard, but when this theologian visited them, they offered him gracious hospitality, and then they would insist that he teach them the Scriptures.  He said he always felt humbled because he was sure they had much more to teach him than he could ever teach them.  There was a warmth and joy in being near them.  They carried a humility and honored him as their guest whenever he visited their area.  This exemplified meekness to the author, as it does for us.  Were these men who suffered for their faith weak?  Not hardly!!  But they did exhibit meekness.