The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth
I heard a story at the yesterday that I just could not keep from sharing with you –
An old Florida farmer decided to visit a pond in the back of his property that he had not visited in a long time. As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer, he discovered a bunch of women were skinny dipping in his pond.
He politely made the women aware of his presence, and they all went to the deep end of the pond. One of the women shouted out, “We’re not coming out until you leave!”
The farmer replied, “I didn’t come down here to see you skinny dipping. I’m just here to feed the alligator!”
Will you bow with me for a Word of Prayer?
This morning, I would like for you all to open up those beautiful books you have in your hands – God’s Word – if you will open with me to Matthew Chapter 5. Matthew Chapter 5 verse 1:
“Now when He saw the crowds, He went on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him, and He began to teach them saying,
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’”
I want you to notice something – right off the top – in verse 2 it says, “He began to teach”. Now, I want to tell you that there are some great teachers out there, but Jesus is the Master Teacher! Old E.F. Hutton doesn’t have a THING on Jesus – when Jesus talks, you better listen! So listen up!
Being the Master Teacher that He is – Jesus understood the importance of not starting off with negative stuff – instead, He starts off on a positive note – He begins by teaching about the power of living a life of righteousness and the BLESSINGS that it brings to the life of the believer.
Those old Pharisees taught that righteousness was an external thing – all a matter of following a bunch of rules and regulations – saying and doing (or appearing to do) the right things for all the world to see. If you fast enough, if you pray enough, if you read your Bible enough, then baby, you are RIGHTEOUS!
Jesus, on the other hand, knew that Christian character and righteousness flows from within.
Jesus tells us in verse 20 of this same Chapter “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of Heaven.”
The main theme here is righteousness – where we need to be careful as we examine this… is that the religious leaders had an artificial, external righteousness based on the Law. The righteousness Jesus is describing comes from the HEART. We have to look inward – into the heart –
The Pharisees are concerned with the little bitty, nit picky, details of CONDUCT – but they neglect the major matter of CHARACTER.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Oh man, that preacher is coming at me with some weak Willy’d stuff this morning – here comes that turn the other cheek stuff!
To be poor in spirit means to be HUMBLE. The kingdom of heaven belongs to the humble! You don’t have to have a weak backbone or be a walking matt in order to be humble! The world’s views and attitudes rest on self-praise and self-assertion –
We’re not looking for a bunch of phony baloney humble pie either – to be humble is to be honest with ourselves – to accept ourselves and to try to be ourselves to the glory of God.
“Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.”
When you sin, do you mourn over your sin? Do you grieve because of it? Or do you hide it – try to cover it up? When my children come to me in true sorrow over something they have done that they know is wrong – I comfort them. I don’t Lord it over them – if they come in false humility, with insincere motives – things are different – but when I see sincere brokenness over what they have done – I comfort them.
Take a look for just a second at the word “Blessed”. When Jesus uttered this word – this wasn’t something that was overlooked, as we tend to overlook it today – “Blessed” was a powerful word – to those who heard Him say these words – it meant “divine joy and perfect happiness.”
This word was not used for humans – this word was the kind of joy that was only experienced by the gods or the dead – an inner satisfaction that did not depend on the OUTER circumstances for happiness.
Let me say that one more time: JOY…Blessedness – is an inner satisfaction that does not depend on OUTER circumstances in order for you to experience happiness.
Now note this: This is EXACTLY what Jesus offers for those who trust in Him!!
Blessed – JOYFUL – INTERNALLY SATISFIED are those who mourn over their sin. If you try to cover up what God already knows – you are going to be miserable. You will be chained to that misery and you will be SIN’S slave. But, the moment you begin to mourn over that sin – the moment you repent, Jesus is standing there ready to forgive almost as if He is saying, “My, my – what took you so long?”
There is a story about a little boy that was visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.
As he was walking back he saw Grandma’s pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.
After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let’s wash the dishes." But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen."
Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?" So Johnny did the dishes.
Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, "I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper." Sally just smiled and said," Well that’s all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help." She whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.
After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s...he finally couldn’t stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.
Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. But because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you."
Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done...and the devil keeps throwing it up in your face whatever it is, you need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing...He has seen your whole life.
He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He’s just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives you, but He forgets...
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
The meek WILL inherit the earth!! Meekness is not sissiness! Meekness means that you submit to God! If you submit all things to God, then you WILL inherit the earth!
If you are here this morning and you truly want to be used by God – then you need to get an understanding of what it means to be MEEK.
Dr. Samuel Brengle of the Salvation Army said, “The axe cannot boast of the trees it has cut down. IT could do nothing but for the woodsman.
He made it, he sharpened it, and he used it. The moment he throws it aside, it becomes only old iron. O that I may never lose sight of this.”
God made you – God sharpens you through every event in your life – and He will USE you if you will submit to Him.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Pure in heart – character – character is not who you are when others can see you – it is who you are when you are alone. Who you are when it is just you and God.
We lead such fast paced lives these days. Man, they move at the speed of light sometimes – you wake up and before you know it the day is over and it is time to hit the hay. We’re so busy and so overworked and overscheduled that sometimes it is easy to overlook some of the small things in life – but, let me tell you – they are watching.
A pastor ran into the grocery store one day to pick up a couple of things he was needing – he was in a big hurry because he was running behind trying to get to his next appointment.
He quickly went through the checkout counter – paid for his stuff – grabbed the receipt and change and out the door he went. As he was getting into his car, stuffing the change into his wallet, he noticed that the checkout girl had given him too much change. “Oh man!”, he thought – “What should I do? I’m already behind schedule – I’ve got to get on the road!”
As he saw it he could do one of three things – he could go back in right now, delaying his plans even further – and make things right. He could go on to his appointment and come back later and make them right. Or, he could just forget about it and go on about his business - people made mistakes like that all the time right?
Well, he decided he ought to go ahead and go in and make it right. He walked up to the same checkout stand he had been in just a few minutes before – and as he approached the checkout girl he said, “I’m sorry – but it looks like you may have given me too much change by accident.”
With a big tear rolling down her cheek, the checkout girl looked up at him and said, “No sir, I did it on purpose. You see, I came to your Church Sunday and sat on the back row. You preached about honesty and how important it is to be honest as a Christian. I gave you too much change so I could see if you really meant it.”
The unsaved are watching you all the time. They listen to the words that come out of your mouth – they look at your actions to see if they match your words – they are looking to see if you are REAL. They are hungry for SOMETHING REAL. And you may be the only one that let’s them see the PURITY of Jesus.
How pure are you – what do others see in your words, your actions, and your life.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
We are called to be peacemakers – to strive to be a light in this troubled world.
We are to be channels for God’s mercy, His purity, and His peace. If you have someone in your life that you are holding something against – don’t count yourself as a peacemaker. I don’t care how many peacemaking pow wows you have had – I don’t care how many World Wars you have averted – if you hold one – just one hard, cold, unforgiving spirit within you – don’t stand up and call yourself a peacemaker.
Jesus Christ took it all – He is the ultimate peacemaker – He brought peace between us and God – now you go to those you need to forgive and make it right. I don’t care how undeserving you think they are – I don’t care how many times they have hurt you or how badly they have hurt you – if they haven’t whipped you, spit on you, cursed you, beat you, mocked you, hung you on a cross – then they haven’t done enough for you to keep your forgiveness to yourself! Grow up! Forgive others as you would have them forgive you – forgive them as you would have your Father who art in Heaven forgive you!
Stop the pain – the pain in your heart – the pain in your memory – the anger – the bitterness – Jesus doesn’t just forgive – HE FORGETS. Period. No strings. No ifs, ands, or buts. He just does it. Don’t sit there looking at me saying, “Tex, you don’t understand. This is just too big to forgive and forget.”
Don’t tell that to me. You go look JESUS in the eye and tell him that.
Don’t even come at me with that – go tell it to Jesus.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you – persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. REJOICE! And be glad! Because great if your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
In today’s world – with the world’s standard – in isn’t easy to be a Christian. Back in the day – when someone had something filthy to say, we would say, ‘you better watch your mouth!’
Today, when we say JESUS – they gasp and say, “you better watch your mouth!”
Our society is not a friend of God’s nor to God’s people. We are a bunch of inflexible, narrow-minded, weak, sissified, and holier than thou religious nuts. Why?
Because we are different from the world – we do not conform to the world – therefore there is conflict between the world and us.
The world praises pride, not humility. The world endorses sin – especially if you can “get away with it”
The world is at WAR with God – constantly telling him “it isn’t fair” – “or that was just for back then”
While all the time, God is seeking to reconcile with them and make them His children. We MUST expect to be persecuted IF we are living as God wants us to live our lives.
Do you want to know how to know that you are living as God wants you to live? Name me the last time you were persecuted because of Him. When is the last time someone made fun of you because you wouldn’t laugh at the dirty joke someone told – or asked you why you were being such a prude when you didn’t use words you know Jesus would not approve of.
You know – you need to put an exclamation point in your Bible after the words “rejoice” and “be glad”.
REJOICE! BE GLAD! Great is your reward in heaven.
Perfect joy – perfect happiness…blessed.
Jesus gives us the instructions. He shows us the way. He IS the way.
Don’t finish with a bunch of parts left over – come to Him this morning in such a manner of obedience that He can show you true joy and happiness.
Cast aside the world and embrace Him!
Will you bow with me for a Word of Prayer?
