Let’s Pray…
First a review. We’ve been camping out on the mountain. We’ve been studying the Sermon on the Mount slowly, picking apart the verses as we go, to get to the heart of what Jesus had to say and seeing how His words, from 2,000 years ago, apply to our lives today.
By looking first at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, we saw that Jesus used the word picture of a house that we are building on a firm foundation.
When the rains come, the winds try to blow us down and the streams rise, we will not be moved if we are built on a living, active faith in Jesus Christ.
The house that we are building includes a structure to our life, a worldview that shapes how we respond first to God then to ourselves and then to others.
So far we have covered the first two beatitudes
We are poor in Spirit when we come to terms with our own sinfulness in light of God’s holiness. The key is humility.
We mourn as a response to our impoverished state away from Christ. This mourning leads to repentance in the life of a believer.
But remember, this is a KEY — Once we are humble and repentant, WE WILL BE COMFORTED!
God’s promise will not be taken away from those of us who have accepted Him as Lord and Savior.
So those beatitudes dealt with our attitude about ourselves, and our relationship with God.
In Matthew 5:5 we will begin looking at how we interact with others.
They say that when you begin a sermon, you should always lead with your own personal experience — from a place where you have been tested in the principle that will be taken from Scripture.
Today that is very hard for me to do because this is one of my most difficult areas to live in.
Matthew 5:5 says:
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
In our Faith, meekness isn’t weakness, but it is submission.
— We first submit to where God has us, where He is leading us and what His ultimate plan is for us.
— Second we reshape our lifestyle to His Scriptures, we do not try to alter His word to fit our lifestyle.
How many times have I seen where God wants me to go and argued? I have too many times to count. How many times have I been Jonah?
How many times have I seen the standard that God had set in Scripture and then wanted to pretend I hadn’t read it or tried to rationalize my sin to fit His word? It would be embarrassing to admit.
But admitting is what we did in the first beatitude, and in response, we mourned and turn away from that old way of doing things, as we were taught in the second Beatitude. Some things have to be turned away from again and again, and that is what we do.
And as new creatures in Christ, we are given the power of God in our lives. We are given the inheritance. We are given the fruit of the Spirit talked about in Galatians 5:22-23, which includes meekness (translated gentleness in the NIV, but the same Greek word prah-ooce or prah-oo'-tace)
In this power from God, in this realization that He wins and we are on his side so ultimately, we win, we submit to God’s will, as Jesus did.
And we don’t only submit to God’s will — God’s word. We also hold back from coming against other people.
A pastor in Texas named Robert Morris said meekness, is “Power that is under control.”
Meekness isn’t weakness. Meekness is:
— Taking offences without returning them in kind
o It’s not being quick to anger
o When anger does come into your heart, it is not holding on to that anger and allowing it to become resentment or malice
o And it s not vengeful.
Put another way, An OLD TIME preacher, Thomas Watson said meekness toward other people, “consists in three things: the bearing of injuries, the forgiving of injuries, the recompensing good for evil.’
I am the opposite way, when someone comes against me, and it is usually with words, I want to cut them down, I want to weaken them so they cannot hurt me.
Watson, from Scripture says take it, forgive it and then smother them with kindness.
For the best example we can look to Jesus who came to redeem His people, but was abandoned, betrayed, mocked, beaten, and killed by those He would save.
HE HAD ALL THE POWER IN THE UNIVERSE! But, He held it back. He took the injuries, He forgave the injuries, and he paid it all back, good for evil.
Why, Because it was the Will of the Father!
How many of us could do the same?
Some make the foolish argument that Jesus is a bad example. How can we hope to live up to Jesus? He was perfect! I won’t argue that now, I’ll just go to a common man as a model. Please turn to
1 Samuel 24:1-19 (We will read and unpack as we go)
...So, if David could do it, and he is just a mortal guy, we too can do it. And it is not because of our own power, but God’s power through us.
Today is the day that we begin reflecting God’s love by loving others even when — especially when — the persecute us.
It takes so much more strength. It takes so much more POWER — to hold our tongues, to hold our fists, to hold back our anger, to give it to God and then to pay back pain with kindness.
Do you have that power? Do you have the strength that is demonstrated by meekness?
If you are a believer, the answer is yes. And as a believer, you and I are called to tap into that power and to do it today.
As we go out this week, I can almost guarantee that we will come into situations when God would have us demonstrate His love through our Meekness, It probably won’t be a king trying to hunt you down; it probably won’t be a mob crying out for your crucifixion. No the slings and arrows that most of us will face will be from the words of others, possibly from the people we love most.
How strong will you be? How strong will any of us be?
You and I will only be as strong as our surrender to the Lord.
Let’s pray…
