Happy Are The Humble Series

I. Jesus goes up to the mount and gives the greatest sermon ever preached.

A. And the words He gives are counter revolutionary.

B. In the Beatitudes Jesus gives the Secrets to Happiness.

II. His statement ran against the current mood of the religious leaders of the day.

A. To their way of thinking, the only way to inherit the land was to overthrow the Roman government, and that certainly could never be done by being meek.

1. It would take a massive show of force and a great deal of aggression to accomplish such a monumental task.

B. I like the ad about the secretary reviewing the bosses daily schedule.

1. “Mr Jones you are scheduled for a staff meeting at 10am, a board meeting at 11 and an auto accident at 3pm but I have to know if you want a side impact or a head on collision?”

2. Sounds ridiculous but it is the way we live.

3. We plan our days down to the millisecond and then become incensed when we get stuck in traffic.

C. Percentage of Americans earning less than $30,000 per year who believe that "the meek shall inherit the earth": 61

1. Percentage of Americans earning more than $60,000 who believe this: 36 Citation: Harper's (3/96). "To Verify," Leadership.

2. It's too bad that the meek haven't already inherited the earth, because the unmeek are making a real mess of it.

D. When’s the last time you heard someone say, "If you really want to get ahead in life, try being meek."?

1. Or, "If you want to rise to the top and be someone and get somewhere, exhibit a little meekness along the way."?

a. Meekness is not a characteristic that is promoted much in our society today.

b. Hezekiah 6:1 The Lord helps those who help themselves.

c. Blessed are they who go and get theirs because no one else will.

2. I must confess that I have a problem here. I am a pusher and a manipulate

III. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.(NIV)

A. What does it mean being meek and being humble?

1. Although weakness and meekness may look similar, they are not the same.

a. Weakness is due to negative circumstances, such as lack of strength or lack of courage.

b. Meekness never implies weakness.

2. Phillips Brooks “The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your real height against some higher nature that will show you what the real smallness of your greatness is.”

3. Charles Haddon Spurgeon Humility is to make a right estimate of one's self.

B. The opposite of meekness and humility is pride.

1. Spiritual pride is something which is very pervasive in the church.

2. We have a way of looking down our noses at people who are different than us.

3. Too often the church becomes a house full of critics and pride run a muck.

C. In contrast to weakness, meekness is controlled strength.

1. It is an attitude of heart in which all energies are brought into the perfect control of the Holy Spirit.

2. The meek inherit the earth, not by conquering in this present dispensation but by achieving ultimate victory during the final manifestation of the kingdom, or the Millennium

3. It means now I am not in control.

a. God has control and I can not force my agenda nor my will.

b. Humbleness and meekness implies submission and relinquishing control to God.

4. Do we really believe in God?

a. Do we really believe in a God who has control of the universe and every moment of my life?

b. We act as though God has governs the stars but in the ity, pity parts of our lives, He is too busy or just doesn’t care or has turned that over to us.

c. Surely we have responsibility for our behavior but do we have ultimate control and determination of the events of our lives.

D. Meekness was used of colts and other animals whose naturally wild spirits were broken by a trainer so that they could do useful work.

1. As a human attitude it meant being gentle of spirit, meek, submissive, quiet, tenderhearted.

a. During His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus was hailed as the coming King, though He was “gentle, and mounted on a donkey” (Matt. 21:5).

b. Paul lovingly referred to the “meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:1) as the pattern for his own attitude.

2. The essential difference between being poor in spirit and being meek, or gentle, may be that poverty in spirit focuses on our sinfulness, whereas meekness focuses on God’s holiness.

E. Meekness, in it is associated with enkrateia, “self-control.”