Blessed are the Meek
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A Lifestyle
A Lifestyle
Have you ever thought about what your lifestyle says about who you are as a person?
Like, the way in which you live defines who you are without you ever having to say a single word?
Think about it…you can look at almost anybody and without even talking to them you know something about them:
So I’m sure you can think of someone right now that you have judged without even knowing them based solely on their lifestyle right?
And that’s because a person’s lifestyle is a powerful and potent indicator of who you are
I say all that because what Jesus is doing through these beatitudes is painting a picture of what a true believer in Him will look like
We’ve already seen that they will be poor in spirit, spiritually bankrupt
We saw last week that they will be mourners of sin....ie....people who hate sin
Blessed Are The Meek
Blessed Are The Meek
And this week we come to , which says this, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
When you hear the word meek, if you are human at all, some definition, picture, idea, person, example…something went through your mind.
Let me hear some of those thoughts out loud. What do you think of when you hear the word meek?
Okay good, there were some good answers there
To be someone who is meek is to be someone who is:
Humble
Gentle
Not Aggressive
So to be meek is to be humble.
A true child of God will be humble
How would you define humility?
,
Andrew Murray defined it like this:
Apart from Christ, you won’t be humble
“The humble person is not one who think meanly (lowly) of himself, he simply does not think of himself at all.”
A Lifestyle of Humility
A Lifestyle of Humility
So, as we’ve said, these beatitudes are descriptives of a believer.
They are seen in a believers lifestyle
So if you are sitting in these chairs this morning saying yes I’m a believer....then meekness, or humility, should be something that is evident in your life.
- God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble
We need to be believers who don’t think of ourselves:
Our wants
How would you defin
Our desires
Instead, we need to be believers who think of what God wants
The Dilemma
The Dilemma
The big dilemma though is this:
In today’s world, if you live a life of humility you are viewed as weak or small or insignificant
It’s the truth
Everything is geared around being “THE” person.
Everything is focused on promoting yourself.
Everything revolves around building yourself up
And so it can be quite difficult to live a life of meekness, a life of humility
We crave attention don’t we?
But Christ says that happy are the meek
We post something on social media and we sit there like this (arms wide open), waiting for the likes and comments to roll in don’t we?
See, the world says:
“Get what you can now”
“Be the best you”
“Do whatever it takes to be #1”
And if we’re not careful, we can fall into the same prideful, arrogant trap that they are caught up in.
And in Jesus’ day, this was especially true of whom? The religious leaders…the Pharisees and the Saducees.
They were spiritually proud and spiritually self-sufficient
But they were also materialistically proud…(Saducees)
Two Ways to Show Humility
Two Ways to Show Humility
Notice what Jesus says here though:
But it is possible to show meekness in your life
Why?
“Happy are the meek, why?
Because you have already realized you bring nothing to the table, so therefore you have nothing to be proud of
Because you’ve realized your sin before God, and you mourn it
It’s very hard to be mourning who you are and have a strong dosage of pride right along with it!!!
In fact, to be meek (humble) is to be like Christ
- “ 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”
See, when we are meek we no longer feel the need to defend ourselves, to promote ourselves, or to prove ourselves
And throughout the Bible, meekness is a very common quality among some of the most famous people:
Think of Abraham and Lot when they are picking out their land
Abraham allowed Lot to pick the best land even though it had been promised to him and he was the patriarch of the family
Joseph, in his position of authority, with the power to repay his brothers for what they did to him, chose to be humble and forgive
Or how about Paul, who though he was the most popular preacher of his day, chose to put “no confidence in the flesh” as tells us
1. Humility towards God
1. Humility towards God
This is absolutely necessary for salvation, which I hope you understand. You can’t come to God with anything on the table, you come totally dependent.
And when you’re totally dependent it’s like when you’re on a roller coaster.
You’re strapped in and you offer nothing.
It doesn’t matter how strong you are, smart you are, tall you are, rich you are....you are dependent on something totally outside your control
Same with God....
And so a life of a Christian must be a life of humility. To call yourself a Christian and to be a practicer of pride is to be contradictory to what you are saying you believe in!
2. Humility towards others
2. Humility towards others
Oof....here’s a hard one
A true believer will be humble towards others.
That means putting others feelings first, putting others desires first, putting others decisions first
That means why your friends are out there “getting all that they can right now” or “living their best life now”....you don’t feel the desire to one up, or the desire to do the same
That means living with the mind of Christ…who humbled himself
The Promise
The Promise
But don’t forget about the promise...”for they shall inherit the earth”
What a promise…see the Bible tells us that this whole world will pass away....everything we work for will be gone in an instant
But the promise is that those who are humble, those who are believers, they are going to inherit the earth…and it is going to be a place of beauty like we haven’t seen
Because we will be with Christ
Because there won’t be sin
Because there won’t be anything to hinder us