Well, as we look forward to the reading and preaching of God's word, let's pray. Prepare and help us, Lord, to hear your word. Hear your word read and preach that we might understand it and that understanding it, we might believe and believing it, we might follow by your grace and all faithfulness and obedience to the glory of your name and the benefit of your church. Oh, Lord, work. work amongst us, do far beyond our comprehension, anticipation, or desires. Lift up Christ before us. In his name we pray, amen. If you'll turn your Bibles to Matthew, Matthew chapter five, or tap on your devices, or whichever way you're reading this morning, God's word, we're continuing our Our look at the Sermon on the Mount as we're moving through these chapters five to chapter seven. We're in the Beatitudes section of the sermon. We're moving on here to the third Beatitude, as it were, as we're together this morning. I'll remind you, as I have each of our sermons together on this particular passage of scripture, what Sinclair Ferguson has as I think aptly shared regarding it. He writes, it's not a sermon about an ideal life in an ideal world, but about the kingdom life in a fallen world. So may we remember that as we look to God's word and listen. Matthew chapter five, I'm gonna read all the Beatitudes, verses two to 12, and I'll come back at the end and read again verse five as we focus on it. This is God's Word. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And as I've mentioned, Each week we are able to take each one of these Beatitudes, but we don't want to remove it from the context of the Beatitudes. We should probably read them all. But this morning we're going to be focusing again here in verse 5. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. You know, if we were to sit down together over a cup of coffee, perhaps maybe go to the fellowship hall and We sit down and start talking. We think, what are the top 10 things we think? Now, of course, humanly speaking, we don't know ultimately and spiritually here, but what are the top 10 things that we think have hindered the most and hampered and held back God's church in our own country, in our own culture? Why have we seen a decline, and particularly in this generation, there's been, sadly, a great shift, as it were, regarding the faith, and I think if we sat down and we started putting that together and coming up with these top 10 things that we might be able to then pray about and by God's grace pursue in our own local context, I think one thing, and I would have to make the list, and maybe this would surprise you, but I think it would be the growth and the multiplication and the too much influence of Mr. and Miss Nice Christian. Now immediately you might think, what are you talking about niceness? That's important, right? We're supposed to be nice. We don't want to be jerks. That's correct. But that's not what I mean about when I say niceness. The Mr. and Miss Nice Christian, those are Christians who have misunderstood what God is teaching about meekness. And so what they've done is instead of reading God's word and understanding what it is he's teaching, particularly here, but throughout the scriptures about what it is to be meek, instead they've grabbed on to an incorrect concept of niceness. And so they turn themselves into someone who every day of the year, 24-7, it's all about not being apologetic for the faith, but apologizing for the faith, apologizing for the scriptures, apologizing for anything that someone might think about Christians or Christianity in a negative way. And they turn themselves into pretzels trying. they in a way be nicer than God himself. They become somewhat of doormats, almost a caricature that we see sometimes made fun of in pop culture. Now seeking to be nicer than God, what happens for these Mr. and Ms. Nice is they take God's word, they have to, because the ultimate thing is feelings, their own feelings and the perceived feelings of those around them, and they jettison the scriptures, they twist the scriptures They do somersaults inside God's Word, as it were, to try to make everyone around them happy about God, happy about the Bible, happy about themselves. But most importantly, they want people happy with them. Really, Mr. and Ms. Nice are very self-focused. They follow kind of a selfish religion. They just want things to be comfortable and easy. They don't want arguments. They don't want someone to bring questions. They don't want to interact and deal with these things. They don't want to be challenged. They want easy things. They fear confrontation. They appease wickedness around them in all turns so that they might be someone everyone likes. They often will use a good thing as an excuse, and they'll say, well, we're trying to be attractional, so we want to make sure that no one's offended. But they misunderstand what God means by meekness. And we'll see. Yes, that's not a call to being jerky at all or abrasive, but it is not a call to be a doormat to the world and to others. Reverting God's word, Mr. and Ms. Nice Christians submit to themselves above all else and their desire for comfort and have an unbiblical view of meekness, one that is rich and beautiful in the scriptures. So what we see here in this one little verse in the greater context, what I want you to see and to remember and to learn about here is that by God's grace, submit to Jesus in everything, knowing in him, his people inherit the earth. That's what we see in this short little verse. And we're gonna look at two things, Jesus' example of godly meekness and Jesus' call to godly meekness. So Jesus' example of godly meekness, let us start there. Now, thankfully, Jesus shows us what it is to truly be meek. It is even by looking at Christ alone that we have all the confusion of the world, the confusion even that rises up in the church cut through, and we see clearly a picture of what it is to be meek and to understand what that is. Again, return to Dr. Ferguson. Speaking about this, he says the word meekness is notoriously difficult to define. Have you found that? Perhaps you were looking ahead in this morning or you saw the, you look through the order of service and you saw the sermon was going to be about meekness. Or you immediately think, wow, I wonder what this is going to be about. What is meekness? This word meekness is notoriously difficult to define. It is certainly not a lack of backbone. Rather, it is the humble strength that belongs to the man who has learned to submit to difficulties, difficult experiences, and difficult people, knowing that in everything, God is working for his good. The meek man is the one who has stood before God's judgment and abdicated all his supposed rights to God. He has learned in gratitude for God's grace to submit himself to the Lord, and to be gentle with sinners. Now, that is an aspect of meekness. Now, Mr. and Mrs. Nice are doormats to sinners, but meek Christians who rejoice in God's grace and forgiveness are gentle with those whom the Lord has not brought to faith, but also with one another, dear saints, for we are sadly sinners still this side of glory. And we are called to be meek in the way that we treat and deal with one another and our sin and calling each other to forgiveness and reconciliation. Back to Ferguson, this kingdom characteristic of meekness is the clue to so much that God does in our lives, yet we too rarely recognize it. He wants us to be meek. But first, he may have to break our pride, destroy our sense of self-sufficiency, and humble us under his mighty hand before he uses us for his glory. He sends trials, reveals the secret ambitions we have hidden in our hearts, and uncovers our reliance upon ourselves. You know, often our prayers were crying out, Oh, Lord, why must I deal with this? Why am I suffering? Why again this trial, this difficulty? And how often with the with the word of God backing this up, why might we anticipate the Lord's response? Oh, dear one, those trials are for your blessing, for your growth, for your benefit. Act of what Ferguson wrote, then as he patiently, speaking of the Lord, as the Lord patiently changes us, he develops within us this meekness of character. Now he will use us for his glory and now for blessing others' lives. There's probably no more beautiful quality in a Christian than meekness. How often do we think about being meek? Godly meekness, and yet this is, I agree, probably one of the most beautiful qualities. Meekness enhances manliness. Meekness adorns femininity. It is something for men and women, for all Christians, adults, children, youth, the mature, the immature. Meekness is beautiful to God's people. It is a jewel polished by grace. But sadly, it is all too rare. We look at the scriptures and we see the gold standard of meekness, which is Christ. Now, there's many places we could go. We could go and look at Moses. Moses was meek. We could look at King David, who even in some of the great things that happened and the sinful things he did. But there's a thorough aspect of David. of meekness as well. But we see it throughout the Scripture. We see it in Paul in the New Testament as a great example of meekness. But the greatest of all is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Your homework this afternoon is to read Philippians chapter 2 and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit recorded this letter written to the Christians in Philippi by Paul as he's writing to them and he breaks out in doxological praise. Christ and a picture of his meekness and humility he showed and in the coming and taking on flesh. He might then live under his own law in the midst of the sinners that he's come to redeem, going to the cross, having the sins of his people weighed upon him that he might bear the wrath of God and the right guilt of of those sins that he might earn forgiveness for those sins, pay the debt that could not be paid, rise from the dead, ascend and reign even now. And then there, praising the Lord for this great work of Christ, God the Son, the Lord directs Paul to appoint Christians to follow after Christ. By the work of the spirit to be humble. I say in the context to be. A meek people like their Savior. We read through the Gospels. The youth are doing a year through the New Testament together in their reading, and thankfully I was able to kind of jump on board with him. And we're going through Matthew right now. Reflecting on some of the reading and maybe think about the Gospels altogether, Maybe this is just me, and maybe it shows how immature I am and how much I need to grow, but when I read the way that Christ was treated, the way he was confronted by others, and they mocked him, and they attacked him, and they wanted to destroy him, and the way that people would respond with just vitriol and snarkiness, and my thought is how meek our Savior is. At that very moment, he's holding all of existence together. These rebels have have breath in their lungs because of Christ. He said if he wanted to, in the Gospels he reads, he says, you fools, if I wanted to call hosts, the angelic hosts down, legions upon legions of angels to serve me at this moment, they would move at my command. And yet Christ, with all that power, is gentle. He shows his meekness to those around him as he's on his mission in his earthly ministry there, as he's there seeking and saving the lost, not crushing and destroying the insolent. I don't know, I know for parents, as a parent, that could be a challenge. The 17th time in a row that your loving child has disrespected you and mocked you to your face and you're thinking, This is hard to be meek. Those who might have been in authority positions in different places. You have someone who's a subordinate and it needs to be doing things, and they have that same thing over and over again. The drip of difficulty and challenge that comes. And yet the creator of all things, the ruler and sustainer of all things, dealt with this. And we see his meekness. And we're encouraged. Dear Saints, by the power of the Spirit, produce to follow after and seek that meekness as well. Martin Lloyd-Jones, an English pastor, he comments on this great meekness of Christ. And I think in this comment, he encourages God's people to follow suit again by the power of the Spirit. And Lloyd-Jones writes this, he says, come unto me, this is Christ now, he's quoting, come unto me, he said, all you that labor, and I'll give you rest. I am meek and lowly in heart." That's the call of Christ from the Scriptures. You see it in the whole of his life. You see it in his reaction to other people. You see it especially in the way he suffered persecution, scorn, sarcasm, derision. Rightly was it said of him. As the Scriptures quote Isaiah, a bruised reed shall he not break, a smoking flax shall he not quench. Christ's attitude towards his enemies, perhaps still more his utter submission to his Father, shows his meekness. He said that as Christ, the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself and I speak for the Father and do with his works. Look at Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, the meekness that he shows. As he's preparing to go to the cross, it's recorded he's sweating blood and his tears. And it's not because of the cross itself, the physical pain that's coming. It's the wrath of God that's about to be poured out upon him. He knows fully what's coming. Being the God man, he understands the price that's about to be paid. And we see his meekness, as he says, not my will, but your will be done, Father. It is in his meekness that we enjoy salvation. It is in his meekness that we've been redeemed and saved, dear saints. So look at him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Look at the portrait of Christ, which we find in Philippians 2, as we've mentioned already, where Paul tells us that he did not regard his equality with God as a prerogative. at which to clutch or something to hold on to at all cost. No, he decided to live as a man and he did. He humbled himself, became as a servant and even went to the death of the cross. That is true meekness. That is lowliness. That is true humility. That is the quality which he himself is teaching at this point. That is no doormat. That is no pushover. That is boldness, that is courage, that is strength, that is power under control, and love. Love for God, love for neighbor. So Jesus' example of godly meekness brings us, we're going to spend the rest of our time looking at Jesus' call to godly meekness. We might get a little bit better of an understanding what it is that this call that we see here as we read in verse 5, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Now, hopefully this doesn't shock us, but sometimes we forget it. It should be clear as we look at church history, it should be clear as we read the scriptures, but Jesus uses his godly, meek people, his church, to turn the world upside down. Now, it's a little opposite of what we sometimes think, or maybe what's mocked and misunderstood by others. As they look at the church, they look at Christians, and they think, what a weak people, what a silly people, chasing after myths, sky fairies, the cross, forgiveness through the death of a man 2,000 years ago. Like, it's all, what y'all talking about? Love your neighbor? Are you serious? Haven't you learned survival of the fittest, the strongest survive, the strongest evolve as they prey upon the weak? That's the way of this world. That's wrong. That's not correct. And then we also see that there's, I think, sadly, a pull. We see it, maybe social media and the moves of our culture push this way, but even in the church, this great desire for, for what is it? This great desire They're celebrities. Even in the church, celebrity Christians are so important. Oh, if you could just get, you know, it's almost like a celebrity will say something that's like sort of almost kind of almost Christianese-ish. And the church will fall upon itself to proclaim. Revival's coming. So-and-so believes in the Lord. Can you believe it? It's amazing. You just have to wait a few days. The fruit is shown. That's not to say we don't pray for those who are powerful. We don't pray for those who are influential. We desire for God to pour His grace out upon them and to see that. But we should be reminded that God works with ordinary folks like you, ordinary folks like myself. We turn to 1 Corinthians 1. We see a picture of this. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18 and following. Paul is writing in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the Christians there in Corinth. This is what he writes, "'For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.'" Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs, Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. You read through the scriptures, particularly Old Covenant, but even the New Covenant, you read Old Testament, New Testament, what do we see over and over and over again? We don't see God building the church up, building his people up to such an extent that everyone looks around and says, well, of course, of course, they're doing wonderful, mighty things. Look at this mighty empire. That's not what we see. We see constantly God allowing his people to come to a place where their salvation, their fruitful aspects of victory, all of these things can only come about in the work of God. It is very clear that God's people aren't the one doing these things. That it's not our great wisdom. It's not our great charisma. It's not our influence, our wealth, our power. In fact, it goes against that grain. We've seen every great empire of the world fall. Greatest of those, the Roman Empire, falling under the judgment of Christ. And it didn't fall from armies that Christians brought, but it fell from the everyday meekness of God's people, loving Christ, loving their neighbor, As the Roman Empire, even as we see today in our own empire. Falling into corrupt disrepair, spiraling down upon itself. And yet God uses used and uses ordinary Christians, ordinary meek Christians who come loving him and loving their neighbors and turns the world upside down. Something we need to think about this coming year is 2024. Every four years, things are crazy. This year's probably going to be crazier than normal. It's going to be pretty wild. So everybody listening, whatever you're voting, Democrat, Republican, Independent, not voting because of frustrations, whatever you may be, wherever you are, in the midst of that, this year, remember, whoever sits in the White House, that's not going to determine if God's going to build his church. It's not going to determine if there's revival and reformation. If we desire for our neighbors to be saved, it does not As much as this might infuriate some folks, it doesn't matter who's in the White House. Doesn't matter who's in political control. King Jesus is moving forward and doing all his will. His hand of judgment will be stayed or not, not depending on political parties, but upon his will. So let us remember who is ultimately in charge as we seek to be meek this year. But don't misunderstand, I'm not saying don't get involved in your neighborhood, I'm not saying don't get involved in the schools your kids go to, I'm not saying don't be involved in your community, the city, that's not what I'm saying at all. Just be godly, be meek, witness Christ in the midst of that. Be salt and light. Remember ultimately who you serve, King Jesus. Might that be who we follow in all things. So Jesus' people living lives of godly meekness, Our last few minutes, it looks something like this. Here's a few things that helps us understand. What does it look like to be meek? We're gonna hammer this down. What is meekness? What are a few characteristics of that? Number one, meekness is controlled strength under God's authority. We've said this multiple times. Meekness is not niceness. Meekness is not weakness. It's strength submitted to and guided by God. It's like the strong. I use this illustration all the time. It's like the strong father who takes hold of that infant that's only been born for an hour or two and is able to cradle and hold with those burly arms, that little baby, and not crush it to death, but to have power under control. That's the picture of meekness. Meekness, a power under control for both men and women, boys and girls, youth and adults. Number two, we see meekness is submitting to God's will. Submitting to God's will is meekness. It's a humble readiness to yield your personal desires and to set them aside and underneath the will of God. To say, oh Lord, I have no rights before you. I might come and bring your promises of the scripture to bear, to cry out to you then, but ultimately I am the clay and you are the potter. You are in control of all things. And I lay my hand, my life into your good hands. Number three, meekness is gentleness and humility. Gentleness and humility. Meekness is a lack of arrogance. It's a lack of pride. That's why we pray for the Lord to help us to be humble. There are several things that are antithetical to the Christian faith, and one of the greatest of those is arrogance. Pride is the root of sin. Pride is what brought sin into this universe. By God's grace, we'll be meek, and in that meekness, we'll be humble as his people, having a gentle, humble, Christlike demeanor and attitude in all things. Number four, meekness is endurance amid provocation. It's really easy sometimes to be meek or humble or gentle when everything's easy and good and smooth. But it's when it gets a little crazy. That's when we see what's going on. You know, tough times, crazy times don't make tough folks. It doesn't build good character. It just reveals it. When everything goes crazy, that's when we get to see what everybody's made of. Endurance amid provocation. Meekness is demonstrated in patient, long-suffering. The same patient, long-suffering we see throughout the scriptures the Lord has towards his people. Number five, another aspect characteristic of meekness is Christ-like character. We've spent several minutes talking about the meekness of Christ, so I won't go too much more into that, but just think of Christ's humility, his sacrificial love, his submission to the Father, all of this done by the power of the Spirit. Number six, a characteristic of meekness is concern for others. Meekness is genuine concern for others. Not, let me show concern for you because I want to see how that's going to work out for me. You know, a little bit of, I scratch your back, you scratch mine. I'm not going to punch you in the face as long as you don't punch me in the face. That's not concern for someone else. Concern for someone else would be, I'm not going to physically or metaphorically punch you in the face because you're an image bearer of God and I I care for you and I'm concerned for your well-being." Meekness is genuine concern for others, putting the needs of others before your own desires. We see that throughout the scriptures. We see it throughout church history. That's one of the ways that God has turned the world upside down, is people have gone out as salt and light and they have put others' concerns before themselves. It is so radical in this world. It literally, as the Spirit is working, blows the minds of unbelievers when they see it. The thought of why you wouldn't be seeking your own benefit at all times. Loving your neighbors. We're commanded to do that. It's expressed in compassion, kindness, and willingness to serve others. Loving concern for fellow Christians. the brethren around the world, but particularly here at Christchurch. That's one of the things that we pray for. We're excited about seeing the Lord developing this real, true, genuine community that's fueled by godly meekness here at Christchurch. We genuinely love one another and care for each other. It's not just something we say. Well, God calls us to love each other. Of course I love you, brother. Of course I love you, sister. But genuinely showing that love in our prayers and actions. And this last one ties into the end here, this characteristic number seven, that there's, when it comes to meekness, there's this promise of inheritance of God's blessing, inheritance of the earth. Christians are in union with Christ, the creator and ruler of all that live, the creator and ruler of all things visible and invisible. And so there is an aspect in that, being in union with Christ, he is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, ruler of all things. This is his earth, period, regardless of what anybody says, and we get to enjoy that benefit because we're in union with him. So there's that reality now, so there's the now, but there's the not yet, it's coming, the greater promise that we see here that ties in to the context of the Beatitudes. Remember, we started out with blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven right now, And then last time we were together we saw also in that being comforted aspect of the now and not yet, we have another aspect of now and not yet. And in this we see also how much greater the new covenant is than the old covenant. Now the old covenant promise, as we read here, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Now there was an old covenant land promise, you might remember, and that's for just one little small piece of this planet in the old covenant. A new covenant comes along and like all things in the new covenant, God blows our minds. And it's not just a promise for a little piece of land, but it's the whole entire earth. So in meekness, Christians understand that this earth is ours because it is Christ's. It's part of the blessing that we have. And ultimately we'll enjoy that when he returns. and all are raised in body. And all those who are found in Christ who have faith in him will be raised glorious, that we might live on the new heavens and the new earth with him, enjoying that full inheritance that comes to God's people. So when you think of meekness, godly meekness, don't let it be something that discourages you or you look down upon. You think, oh man, I told you Christianity was for grandmas. No. If that's what you're thinking, please, let's talk. You missed the whole point. Godly meekness isn't something to look down on. It's a gift from God. It's a gift from God that he uses for his glory and the benefit of his church and the benefit of you, dear saints. Jesus' example of godly meekness, Jesus' call to godly meekness, we looked at this morning together, reminding us of the big idea, the main point of this This verse by God's grace submit to Jesus and everything knowing in him his people inherit the earth. Let's pray. Almost merciful and loving God, you have given us your word. It's been read, it's been preached. So we ask now that you'd use this means of grace to save, sanctify and to send us out as salt and light. Oh Lord, do this for your glory. Do this for the benefit of your church, for the benefit of each of us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.