Beattitude 3 Series

Beatitude Series # 3

Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ

Matt 5:4 Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit the earth Matt 5:5

Original date April 25, 1999

Revised May 12, 2001

Divorced parents Judge asked the Girl who she wanted to live with Mom Beats me Dad beats me

The Detroit Lions "They don’t beat anybody

Miami Dolphins, Mike Colin, Steve Jordan Wanted Mike to go on a recruiting trip

Mike what are we looking for?

I . The guy that gets knocked downs and gets back up

2. The guy that gets knocked down at gets up and gets knocked down again and stays down

3. The Guy that Get’s knocked down and gets up and gets knocked down and gets up every time.

"We want him" No

We want the Gut that’s knocking everybody down

From the time that we are small we are conditioned that if you want something you have to take it. Aggressiveness and competion begin to rule in our lives.

Let’s stand together and Read Matt 5:5, Pray

I can see the scene Jesus is on the mountain and He says Blessed are the Meek

And People are turning to each other saying; “Did He say Meek?”

Once again we are at a principal that is the opposite of everything that makes sense to us.

As people we are obsessed with getting Land, Owning our own home is part of the American dream.

Movie Far and away, peoples coming from all over the world to own a piece of soil.

And when we own land, our humanity takes over and we want to own a bigger piece of land. If you don’t think that’s true just try playing Monopoly.

I don’t know about you but when I play monopoly, I don’t just play to win. My goal is to control the whole board. As we look back over history we can see numerous wars, Now please don’t misunderstand me, I believe that some wars are fought over principals, But I also realize that most wars are fought over land. Now even with principals involved that are worth fighting for the war is still about land, The idea of owning a piece of earth is involved at some point of the equation.

E,g Fighting Nazi’s they wanted to own the earth. utopian society W.W.11

Sadam Hussein Invaded Kuwait, our goal was to drive him out Revolutionary war "independence" Land involved

So the idea of owning a piece of land appeals to us as people, and the way that you get that land is to use force. To take it. To use your power

The principals. Be assertive Use power

Aggressiveness Take it

They are they people who live by the philosophy "Nice Guys finish last"

"In order to get what I want I have to be stronger than the opposition’

Wanting to have a Christian nation is a goal of the followers of Christ That’s what the Holy Roman Empire aspired to be. That’s one of the reasons the crusades were fought or for the Spanish inquisition.

And in our hopes for this utopian society Christians begin to buy the philosophy of those outside of Christ. The thing that separates us as Christians is not that we don’t hope for a united Christian Nation, as Augustine envisioned. One of the things that separates us is this: That our inheritance, our Christian Nation, our Holy City, the city of God. Our hope is in Heaven. We need to understand that our City of God is not temporary, nor can it be found in this life. When Jesus says that the meek will inherit the earth, He is talking directly about our hope in Heaven. "What John describes when he says in the book of revelation that he saw a new heaven and a new earth" Who was the new earth for? It is for the Christian

As we discussed before the principals that Jesus Gives are the opposite from every earthly thought and instinct that we posses.

Our earthly instinct says use power and force, it doesn’t matter if you are arrogant, and if you want the land you just take the land.

Jesus says if you want a hope in heaven, A holy City you have to be meek

As people we are looking for our 15 minutes and our section of fame. We want to be somebody important. But God says, “you are somebody” your aspirations of greatness, wealth, and power are wasted if you think you are impressing me.

"Which leads us to the question: What is meekness

Is it being timid or passive? Getting fish instead of Chicken?

Dependent Organization of Really Meek and Timid Souls

Their Motto was “ The Meek shall inherit the earth if that’s O.K. with everybody else”