Matthew 5:5

PSBC 8/22/99 AM

In a nutshell: Christians who are meek--Mighty defenders of truth; Expect God’s help; Educable; Kind--will inherit the earth. They will leave a legacy of something worthwhile.

Illustration: In the early 1900's, there was a French peddler on the back streets of Paris, who was selling cheap jewelry. On his cart was a large piece of stone that hung by a string from a pole on the cart. Attached to the large piece of stone was a card with these words inscribed, "Rock crystal, price— twenty-four francs." A passer-by saw the rock and immediately recognized it for what it was. He gladly paid the twenty-four francs, because in turn, he received a huge diamond whose price could not be calculated.

The Beatitude we will be looking at this morning is something like that rock that hung from the peddler’s cart. It holds incredible wealth for our lives, but it sits in contrast to the cheap values of the society we live in.

I doubt very much if any of the business places in America would hang a plaque or display some wall art that would carry a motto based on the third Beatitude...

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Most people today don’t admire meekness as a great virtue. In fact, it’s viewed, for the most part, as a liability, not an asset. It sounds more like surrender, than success.

And if we’re honest, looking at this Beatitude at face value, most of us would have to say, Jesus must not have known about the dog eat dog world we live in. Because, let’s face it, there is no way in our north American culture that "the meek will inherit anything, let alone the earth."

A truer statement in our culture would be, "It’s the people who are most aggressive, self-assertive and pushy — who will inherit the earth — not the meek."

In fact, as one person paraphrased this beatitude into a more American way of thinking, --"Blessed are the strong, heavy-handed and outspoken, who can hold their own and have their own way, for they have the advantage on earth."

But friends, I’m here to tell you this morning, that Jesus didn’t make a mistake. This simple statement about the meek inheriting the earth, is a diamond of untold wealth.

Today is the third message in this series on the Sermon on the Mount, that I’m calling "Leveling the Field of our Faith." I say that because regardless of who we are, how long we’ve been a Christian, or how strong our faith is, the concepts taught in this sermon are foundational to any Christian who wants to follow Jesus Christ as the leader of his or her life.

If you’re looking for a key verse to this entire sermon, it is found in the last verse of Matthew chapter 5...

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The Sermon on the Mount is God’s perfect blueprint for living. It’s the way God would live His life if He were living in Palm Springs, today. It is a goal toward which you and I need to be striving — no matter how good or bad; sanctified or unsanctified, we are.

The Sermon on the Mount is God’s standard of perfection, that not a single one of us will fully attain. But real joy, peace and significance will be missed, unless we use the teaching of this sermon as the blueprint for our living.

And in God’s perfection, he says this to us... "Palm Springs Baptist Church, You are so lucky when you are living a life of meekness, because you are the ones who will inherit the earth."

This morning, I’m NOT going to get very complicated. In fact, I want to do just two things...

First, I want to define what meekness is, and

Second, I want you to understand what inheriting the earth means.

So, let’s define meekness. Pra-ooce’, or meekness is one of those rich Greek words, that doesn’t translate very well into a one English word. It covers a whole lot of territory of human activity. So, to help us remember it, I want to use each letter in the word, to help define it. I’m going to make an acrostic of the word meek so we can remember what it is that we should be, so we can inherit the earth. So here goes...

The "M" in meek stands for Mighty Defenders of Truth.

There’s a lot of confusion about the meaning of meekness. Many think it’s talking about a personality trait–but it’s not!

-You don’t inherit Biblical meekness from your parents.

-You don’t gravitate to it because of your birth-order.

-It’s not the absence of passion or strong belief.

Listen to this...Meekness is a decision. It is in part, a decision to be a passionate defender of truth.

Another way of stating this concept would be to say that a meek person is one who is willing to submit his or her opinions to a higher standard of truth than just the standard of what is reasonable, or what culture practices. In reality, being a Mighty Defender of Truth means having a lot of humility.

G. K. Chesterton, a great author and friend of C. S. Lewis, wrote these words seventy years ago (top of bulletin)

(Orthodoxy, 31f.)

Illustration: Two times two is always four.

Now, the Bible claims in at least six different places in the New Testament, alone, to be truth. It makes a claim equal to... or even greater than... the truth that is claimed by the multiplication tables.

Illustration: About five years ago, a young couple came into my office to ask me to perform their wedding ceremony. The young lady claimed to be a follower of Jesus Christ, her fiancé didn’t. Since they were planning to marry they decide to move in together, to save money for the wedding. She said to me, "I think God understands." What do I say?

1. First, sex outside of marriage is called sexual immorality. Because the Bible says...

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

2. Second, I have to consider an important principle taught in the Bible for Christians...

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

Meekness chooses Divine Reason over human reason. Meekness is humility that says God’s standard of truth is something I’m not even qualified to mess with. Meekness is a decision to be a Mighty Defender of Truth.

Here’s the second thing that defines meekness. The first "E" stands for Expect God’s help.

The Bible tells us that the meekest man on the face of the earth was Moses. Moses loved the nation of Israel and actually spoke on their behalf when God was ready to wipe them all out on at least a few occasions.

Well, at one point, in Moses’ leadership of Israel, Moses’ sister, Miriam and his brother, Aaron were feeling jealous of old Moses, and questioned Moses’ leadership. This is the conversation that happened...

How would you feel if God spoke to you directly from a cylinder of cloud, after you criticized your brother? And the message that God spoke to you way..."Your brother is MY man — don’t ever criticize your brother again!?" I don’t think you’d ever criticize your brother after that!

But, did you notice what Moses did? Not a thing! Moses didn’t say a word. He let God take care of the situation. In fact, there were many times that the people of Israel criticized Moses while he was their leader, that if you or I had been in his place, we would be convicted of mass murder. Yet not once in all of the recorded Scripture did Moses come to his own defense. Each time he waited for the Lord to come to his defense.

This aspect of meekness basically means a huge reluctance to leap to one’s own defense. Meekness is very aware of the terrible tearing apart of relationships that can come from quarrels. Meekness knows that "self-defense" is destructive in the long run. Meekness looks into the future, and says, "No, defending myself is not worth hurting anyone. I will hold my peace and EXPECT God to defend me."

Friends, listen to me, not once, even when I was undeniably right, when I blasted someone in defense of myself, has the situation worked out for good. Meekness expects God to Defend.

The next "E" stands for "educable" or teachable. Jesus’ half-brother, James wrote some powerful words...

21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

We are told to humbly accept God’s word as our guide. Why? Because, God’s word is powerful. One of my favorite Bible verses is...

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Illustration: A missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators was translating the scriptures into the Filipino language. When he came to this verse in Hebrews, and the word "active", he chose an interesting word. The word he chose in the Philippine language was a word with a double-meaning, translated, potent. "The word of God is living and potent..."

When we are educable... When we accept the teaching of Scripture and change things in our lives as we become aware of areas needed for change, we are meek. If we don’t, we are proud. And this is what the Bible tells us about the proud...

Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.

God won’t have anything to do with proud people...

-That means a lack of blessing.

-That means a lack of joy,

-a lack of peace and

-a lack of a feeling significant.

Are you willing to lose those things because of your pride or unteachableness? What a miserable life you’ve chosen for yourself if you do!

The "K" stands for Kind.

Illustration: During a Billy Sunday evangelistic campaign, a mentally impaired boy came faithfully each night to sing in the choir. "Joey was not very bright," said the song leader and choir director, "but he never missed any of our meetings and wouldn't leave until he shook my hand. Sometimes I was embarrassed by the way he constantly tailed me, and I secretly wished he'd go away."

Then one evening a man came to the choir director and said, "Thank you for being kind to my son Joey. He's not right mentally, but never has he enjoyed anything so much as singing in the choir. He worked hard doing simple chores for people so he could contribute to the collection. Through his pleadings my wife and five other children came to this evangelistic campaign and have now received Christ. Last night his 75-year-old grandfather, who has been an atheist all his life, was saved, and tonight his grandmother also came forward. Now our entire family is converted!"

You see, friends, KINDNESS is something God can use to reach people.

I served on the pastoral staff of Wheaton Bible church with Mark Senter, who was a real mentor to me in my early years of pastoring. He now teaches at Trinity Seminary. He used to say in his southern sincerity... "A good rule for going through life is to keep the heart a little softer than the head." Think about it!

Meekness is kindness.

So here is a definition of meekness that you can remember...

M = Mighty Defender of Truth

E = Expect God’s help

E = Educable

K = Kind

And why are meek people so lucky, or blessed? Because when we are meek in this way that Jesus is talking about... "We will inherit the earth."

But hold it! I thought we couldn’t take it with us, when we die! We can’t. The phrase means to obtain or leave a mark of possession. Another way of saying it, is that meek people leave a legacy-Meek people leave an imprint on the future.

Illustration: In the early 1980's I was a Consulting Editor for "Family Life Today" magazine. One of the articles in the first issue I worked on talked about Patrick Henry, the distinguished statesman from Virginia, who said, "Give me liberty or give me death." He was a well-to-do man. Before he died, he left a will in which he bequeathed all of his material wealth to his children. However, Mr. Henry concluded that same document with these words:

And Jesus says in this third Beatitude, "The spiritual contribution that will be the most valuable thing you could leave, is your meekness."

Does meekness describe you? If it does, then, "You are so lucky. You’ve discovered the diamond that the rest of the world thinks is rock crystal! ...

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth!. Leave a legacy that’s worth something significant! Be meek! Amen