Gentle Giants!
Matthew 5:5
Introduction:
There are eight beatitudes found in Matthew chapter five which are the start of the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest Preacher that ever lived, Jesus Christ. They define and describe the responsibilities and expectations of the Christian and reveal the rewards for such a life.
Scholars have divided the eight beatitudes into two areas: the first four deal with our relationship TO God and the last four our relationship WITH each other.
Two thoughts:
1. First: if we have learned anything from the law (Judaism) it is that we lack the capacity to fulfil it and are void of the desire to complete it. This is the beauty in Christianity: all that God requires of us, He provides us with both the capacity to fulfil and the desire to complete. Culture after culture has tried to legislate morality, in other words blanket external resources over humanity, and hope they do good. This has always failed, it always will. Why? We simply lack the capacity and desire to do good, "As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." -Rom. 3:10-12
The beauty of the beatitudes is found in the division: The first four our relationship TO God and the last four our relationship WITH each other. In other words before God lays out His expectations for living FOR Him He reveals the capacity and desire come FROM Him. Perhaps the reason you have no power in your life is because you have no power in your life!
2. Secondly in this division of the beatitudes we find something else amazing the Christ has done. From the initial 10 commandments in Judaism there sprung over 600 commandments recognized today. Don't miss what Jesus Christ has done and the freeing beauty in the religion of Christianity. During the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ someone stepped up and asked Him "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets" Matt. 22:36-40. Did you get that? Jesus looked at Judaism with hundreds of complicated laws expected to be kept by an incapable humanity and basically said Love God and love each other¡KAnd, I will give you the capacity and desire to do it!
So, our first rung on the beautitudnal ladder, our first step in our relationship TO God was found in Matthew chapter 5 verse 3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." To start a relationship with God you must come to the place in your life where you need a relationship with God! "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Then, last week we read our second step in our relationship with God found in Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Once we discover that God loves us and surrender to that love by loving Him we hurt when He hurts. And, what hurts Him the most is when His creation sins against Him. So, we mourn over our sins and the sins of others because those sins hurt the very heart of the only One that has loved us with an everlasting love.
Now we come to the third of four steps in our relationship with God found in Matthew chapter five verse five, and when you find that verse, please stand in reverence to the reading of His Word.
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
PRAYER
1. The rendition of meekness (what it is):
Let me define meekness by first stating what meekness is NOT. Meekness is not:
a) A lack of confidence or being wishy-washy: Meekness is not speaking of someone that is shy, withdrawn and goes with the flow of culture. Paul tells us that "God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." -I Tim. 1:7. If anyone ought to be walking around with confidence and boldness, exhibiting power in their lives and demonstrating conviction, it should be the Child of the King!
b) Weakness: And, meekness is not speaking of someone that is a doormat to those around them. There are two reasons Christians allow others to dominate, control, manipulate or use them: The first are motivated extrinsically-these folks have been told for so long, by so many around them that they are worthless, no good and inferior that they now believe within themselves that they have no voice and no value. The second group is motivated intrinsically; these folks have a desire to be pushed around by others because they think meekness means weakness and that they are being weak for God. Paul says in Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." Christ does not expect weakness for He Himself provides strength!
So, if meekness does not mean weakness, what does it mean? The Greek word for meek in our text is a picture word that was used for at least three things:
a) A gentle breeze: A breeze that can't be stopped but gently caresses and affects change. Or a gentle Power
b) Soothing medicine: A remedy that does not taste bad or create other issues, but one that heals with no bite (not like the out west days when medicine was a leather belt and whiskey!) but a soothing medicine that can¡¦t be stopped but gently caresses and affect change. Or a gentle power.
c) A tamed wild animal: Lastly, and more accurately, this word meek speaks of a young lion that was taken from the wild and raised and trained to be gentle, to be tamed. Or a gentle power.
So, the best definition I have ever heard for meekness? Power under control.
We have been given both the power and the power to control the power!
God has given us His power and His power to control that power. The gesture of a finger power of God that was used in creation and the moving hand of God power used to destroy creation. The parting of the waters power of God that brought deliverance and the closing in of the waters power of God that brought destruction. The resurrection of the dead power of God that brings live and the calling of bears out of the woods power of God that brings death. The sealing up the heavens power of God that stops the rain and the opening up of the heavens power of God that brings a flood. The causing of the blind to see, the deaf to her, the dumb to talk and the lamb to walk power of God. The taking a bottle out of the hand and putting a Bible in it power of God. Taking a mouth of blasphemy and giving it a mouth of praise power of God. Transforming the reproach in the community to a blessing of community power of God¡K The power that defeated death, sin and Satan that started on the cross and ended three days later. THAT POWER is in us!
So, the question is, what do we do with that power? With power comes great responsibility!
2. The responsibility in meekness (what it does):
So, now that we have established what meekness is, how do we employ its use in our lives? Simply put, we are to be Gentle Giants. There are times in this life that we must be gentle and there are times that we must be a giant. There are times we must be quiet, step down, be subdued and reserved: A sweet old Granny in a rocking chair with a needle in one hand and yarn in the other. Then there are times that we must be vocal, step up, be made known and proactive: A seasoned warrior on the battleground with a sword in one hand and the Bible in the other.
The question is when are we to be gentle and when a giant? We are to:
a) Be Gentle when it comes to YOU. (Your: feelings, emotions, pride-YOU): (ex. Jesus-I Pet. 2:21-24 and Matt. 11:29) So, with Jesus Christ as our standard, shame on us we get all riled up when someone sits in our seat, the preacher doesn't shake our hand or the church doesn't go where we want on a mission trip. (preferences, vision, dreams and our goals---GENTLE)
b) Be a Giant when it comes to others and the truth! (Jesus-Matt. 21:12 and "be angry yet sin not") When should you see Tom McCracken get green and rip his shirt off? Tell me Jesus Christ was not the Son of God, that He was not born of a virgin, or that He was a spirit, tell me the Bible is outdated gibberish by some uneducated Bedouin tribesman, or that there is no such thing as a literal heaven or hell, or even that my Jesus did not die for EVERYONE¡KTHAT¡¦S when I become a giant! Put me in the same room as the folks from the Freedom from Religion, the ACLU, or Planned Parenthood with those godless pagans trying to remove prayer, celebrate sin and kill babies-THAT'S when I become a GIANT! Let me witness division in God's house, conflict between brothers and sisters in Christ, and I will show you what Goliath looks like in 2014! When I see a child that is abused, a lady that is hurt, a special needs person that is mocked, a senior citizen that is taken advantage of I show my GIANT! Mess with me I should be gentle, mess with my kids, wife, church or Lord or OTHERS and DOCTRINE, and I become a giant.
You don¡¦t want to be all giant all the time or all gentle all the time and God is not calling for that in our lives. So, number three:
3. The resources for meekness (how it is done):
Ok. So now you know what meekness is and when to use it, the question remains, how can we be meek? We all know how hard it is to love when hated, pray when persecuted and turn the other cheek when hit. The key is found in Psalm 37, which is what Jesus was referencing with this specific beatitude. (PSALM 37) So, to understand how to be meek we must understand the reference to Psalm 37. I find four ideals from this text that if evident in our lives will result in meekness:
1. Trust in God (vs. 5b): If you are to be a Gentle Giant, using the power to control the power, you must learn to trust, completely trust God. Understand that life will be hard, not make sense and can¡¦t be explained. You must come to the place where you acknowledge that His ways are not your ways and His thoughts are not your thoughts. That you stop trying to figure out the mind of God and simply trust the heart of God. Stop trying to figure out why God does what He does and trust that your Father knows what is best for your life. Make Romans 8:28 your life verse "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
2. Commit to God (vs. 5a): The interesting nugget here is what I discovered through a Hebrew word study on the word COMMIT. It means to "roll" which has several implications: 1. it speaks of something precious being rolled up in a protective layer. So, WE, being precious in the eyes of God, are rolled up in Him! Paul puts it this way "whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's."so that 2. We can roll like a rock down a hill in this world. Don¡¦t let this world get you down, roll with it. You are rolled up in God so that you can roll in this world: making progress, passing by and through obstacles and not stopping by long enough to get caught up in a mess!
3. Quiet before God (vs.7a): In our current culture, this is more needed now than ever before. If you are not careful, you will busy your schedule to the point that when you finally lay down for the night, if honest, you would confess that there was no time in the day that you GOT STILL to know that GOD is GOD. Oh pastor, I talk to God plenty, I bring Him all of my worries, troubles, fears, requests, petitions and prayers. I am sure you do. But when was the last time you went into a prayer closet, turned off your phone, got quiet and just listened to Him speak to you for more than a few minutes? It's great that you take time to speak to God, but greater still is to afford time for Him to speak to you!
4. Do not fret for God (vs. 7b): The struggle with watching the evil prosper and the godly suffer has always been an issue with humanity. That is why God has made it easy for His Children. We don¡¦t have to figure out who did wrong and what their judgment should be. We don¡¦t have to worry about making wrongs right and fixing that which is broken. The message from Paul is "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."-Rom. 12:19
To be meek you must: Trust and commit to God, be still before God and do not fret for God. Lastly,
4. The rewards for meekness (what it gives):
We inherit the earth! I don't know about you but I am looking at this reward and wondering, what I get for being meek is to inherit the earth? Pre-sin maybe, paradise, Garden of Eden stuff, but have you looked at this place lately? So what does this reward of inheriting the earth mean?
„Ï Rewards now: This is CONFIDENCE that there is coming a day when Jesus Christ will fix everything broken and make all wrongs right. A confidence that as I look around and see the sinner celebrating in prosperity: with the bigger house, better job, nicer car¡KI KNOW that it ALL belongs to my Father and my Father has given it all to ME. Not now, but I can wait! Oh you can get down and discouraged and this world will say you are justified. As for me? I have confidence because I have read the end of this Book and I know how it all ends!
„Ï Rewards later: Now I have confidence in the Blessed Hope, I have faith. But there is coming a day when I will check my faith in for sight at the Gates of Glory, will walk through those gates of pearl, dance on the streets of gold, touch the walls of jasper, jump up and down on a foundation of precious stone, enjoying place of BIG DOORS and NO MORES, meeting the GREATS and the SAINTS, as I make my way up to that mansion on the hilltop to claim my inheritance through Christ Jesus, and to worship my God forever and ever, AMEN!
" Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."-Mt. 5:4
INV.
