Blessed Are The Meek

Well, just a word about our elder nomination process before I get into the sermon.

So I'll just give you an update, and then I'll pray, and we'll get back, we'll get to the sermon.

So as most of you are aware, this past January, our church membership affirmed a special elder nomination process

for Luke Keelan and Dave Barnard.

And it's scheduled to culminate with a membership meeting on March 20th.

And so Rick and I have been very diligent with Dave and Lou in walking them through some material.

But what we've realized, all four of us, is that we need more time.

That with March 20th coming up, it's bringing an element to things

that are making things more difficult than they need to be in the process of walking these guys through,

whether they're qualified and ready to be elders.

And so all four of us have realized that we're just starting to talk about the things that we need to talk about.

We're just starting to talk about the things that are essential to elders.

And so what we've realized is that we need to extend the process.

We can't rush this.

We can't afford to rush this.

And so we love this church.

And we believe that the men who fill the office of elder need to be qualified

and need to be thoroughly considered.

And so in light of that, Rick and I are canceling the 320 membership meeting

so that we can just continue in the process that we're in.

And so what that means is we'll just continue with our regular elder nomination process

that will culminate in June.

And so this is to give us more time in talking with Dave and Lou

and asking the hard questions and thinking through hard issues.

The desire of Rick and I is to present to you elder candidates

that we have thorough confidence in for your affirmation.

And so we just need more time in that.

This may raise a question with you in terms of other elder nominations.

If you're seeing other men in the church here who you want to put forward,

Rick and I would welcome those nominations.

And so feel free to offer those names up.

But we just want to let you know, out of love for this church

and a desire to guard this church, we just see the need to take more time in this.

And so we'll circle back to this tonight at our family gathering.

But we want to let you know this morning about this decision.

So all for the glory, all for the glory of God.

I just want to say this too.

Rick and I realize we got ahead of ourselves.

When we asked for this affirmation in January,

where we thought we could walk through this process in a responsible fashion,

culminating in March 20th.

But what we realized is, though well intended, we just need more time.

And so it's been learning for us as well.

And we just want to do what's wise and right at this point

and not push something through just to push something through.

And so thank you for your understanding on that.

And let's now turn to the Lord in prayer.

God, we do thank you so much for your word.

We do thank you in particular for what your word says about elders.

And God, we thank you for Lou and Dave.

Thank you for Rick.

And we thank you for this process we're in.

And we're thankful that, God, you are using even the process,

even in its imperfect nature, to bring about your purposes.

And so, God, we look to you.

We're trying to be attentive to the leading of your spirit,

according to your word.

And so, God, would you raise up men who are qualified to be elders in this church,

who love your church, protect your church,

and nurture your church?

God, we ask this.

In the name of Jesus, we ask for wisdom.

God, we pray for unity as a church around us.

God, we entrust this to you.

And now, God, as we turn to your word,

God, would you meet us in your word?

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

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Amen.

Amen.

Oh, I've never seen this.

That's okay.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

It was the first.

And so I have changed how I interact with him.

It was humbling.

I still have this edge on him I call the old man strength.

I still have that edge on him.

But it was humbling.

Have you ever been put in your place before?

Meekness, blessed are the meek.

Meek, meekness is being put in your place by God's grace.

Meekness is being put in your place by God's grace.

The meek know God has put them in their place by his grace.

You see yourself as you really are in relationship to God and to others.

Okay, anybody familiar with the planet Pluto?

Pluto has been taken a bum rap.

It's been demoted to a dwarf planet by some.

Not me.

Not me.

I'm a purist.

Ninth planet always.

But what you need to realize is these nine planets orbit the sun.

Right?

And there was a time when most of humanity thought that everything else rotated around the earth.

That the earth was the center of all things.

And then this guy named Copernicus came around who is this, I think, Polish mathematician who figured out in the 16th century,

it was just math that the sun doesn't revolve around the earth.

It's the earth that revolves around the sun.

It was a radical shift in thinking.

Becoming a Christian is a radical shift in thinking.

It's the recognition that God doesn't orbit me.

But I orbit God.

All things orbit God.

He's the center of all things.

He's that which is most glorious, important in all of existence.

He's the center of all things.

And all things are dependent on him.

Becoming a citizen of the kingdom of heaven is a radical change in our orientation and our understanding.

We no longer value what the world values.

Me at the middle of everything.

Everything's for me.

Everything revolves around me.

We don't live that way anymore.

Jesus has changed us.

We're part of his kingdom.

He's our king.

And now we live for God.

He's the center of our world.

And so the Sermon on the Mount where we've been spending some time,

the Sermon on the Mount is Christ's manifesto of this radical reorientation.

He's the king.

The kingdom has come.

It changes everything.

How things really are.

And so this Sermon on the Mount, this manifesto,

is a radical reorientation of our thinking.

Jesus has radically changed us.

And he's our king.

And so this morning, we're going to look at something radical.

Blessed are the meek.

The meek.

The meek.

The meek are those who know they've been put in their place by God's grace.

And so this morning, we're going to look at five things.

The meaning of meekness, number one.

Two, meekness in the Beatitudes, that's number two.

The heart of meekness, number three.

The way of meekness, number four.

And the promise to the meek, number five.

Blessed are the meek, for theirs is the kingdom.

Excuse me.

For they shall inherit the earth.

So let's look at this meaning of meekness.

Other Bibles translate meekness as gentle.

It basically means mild or soft.

In classical Greek, it was used to talk about domesticated animals.

About a wild beast that has been broken and now carries stuff for work.

It's power under control.

I have a beast at home.

Not one of my sons.

We've got a hundred-pound black lab named Gus.

And he's a blockhead.

He is a beast.

And he's domesticated.

I tell him to do things, and usually he does them.

Gus go lay down.

He takes some time, but he goes lay down.

Gus come in.

And eventually he comes in.

Gus go up to Nate's room.

He goes up to Nate's room.

Sometimes he doesn't, but usually he does most of the time.

That word in classical Greek that's translated gentle was used of domesticated animals,

but it was also eventually used to describe the upper crust of a society.

The well-mannered.

The well-groomed.

The well-balanced.

I've got a confession.

I love Downton Abbey.

I do.

I do.

I love it.

As one brother said, he's glad to hang up his man card to watch Downton Abbey.

So am I.

Well, the Crowley's would be this well-mannered, well-groomed, well-balanced upper crust of a society.

Kind of power under control.

When we talk about the human attitude in this word meekness, this word gentleness, it's speaking of a submissiveness, a quietness, a tenderheartedness.

And so we learn some things from classic Greek, but the Bible seems to get at something else when talking about meekness.

John MacArthur, in his commentary on Matthew, points out that the essential difference between poor in spirit and meekness is that poor in spirit focuses on one's sinfulness,

where this meekness primarily focuses on God, the greatness of God, an awareness of who God is and the tenderizing effect of his grace towards us.

And when Jesus talks about here as blessed are the meek, it's one of his beatitudes, blessed are the meek.

You know he's saying that all of his citizens are to be meek.

All of us.

All of us are to be meek in growing in meekness.

No one, no citizen is outside this call.

No one, no citizen is outside this call.

No one, no citizen is outside this call.

No one, no citizen is outside this call.

Blessed are the meek.

So for this morning, I want to give you this definition of meekness.

Meekness is a humble posture of heart that results from being put in one's place by God's grace.

Meekness is a humble posture of heart that results from being put in one's place by God's grace.

And the meek don't resist it.

The meek don't resent it.

The meek rejoice in it.

So that's the meaning of meekness.

Now let's look at meekness in relationship to the beatitudes in this progression.

Remember the beatitudes.

If you look at Matthew chapter 5, they start in verse 3.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who declare spiritual bankruptcy, who say,

I am in great debt because of my sin against God.

And what we learn from the Bible is that those who declare bankruptcy due to their sin against God,

what they will experience is God's gracious and generous bailout plan in Jesus.

They're forgiven their whole debt.

And they're made citizens of the kingdom of heaven with all the rights, privileges, and inheritance thereof.

We are made spiritually rich by God's grace.

That's where the beatitudes start.

And then they move to this mourning sin.

Sin against God.

Blessed are those who mourn.

It's the emotional counterpart to being poor in spirit.

And what we see in Matthew 5, 4 is those who mourn are promised comfort.

And what we know is that the only comfort for those who are mourning their sin is found in Jesus.

He paid the penalty.

All of it.

Jesus paid it all.

He broke the power of sin.

And he promises that one day Christians, that the sinful nature will even be eradicated from them.

Presence of sin no more.

And so there's going to come a day when you are on your parcel in the new earth with your new heavenly body.

And you're going to be thinking like, something's missing, but I don't really miss it.

You're not going to have a sinful nature.

What I want you to see is out of one's poverty of spirit, out of one's mourning of sin, comes meekness.

Blessed are the meek.

Another way to come about this is you cannot experience the meekness of which Jesus is speaking without first being poor in spirit,

without mourning your sin.

Do you know what makes a Christian meek, tenderhearted?

It's just not the recognition of one's spiritual debt.

It's just not mourning sin.

It's recognizing the amazing grace of God that in the face of these things,

He would pour out on us when we don't deserve it.

That will make you meek.

That will humble you.

That will tenderize you.

Meekness is the result of being put in your place by God's grace,

His amazing generous grace, His amazing comforting grace.

When you experience the bailout of Jesus,

when you experience the comfort of Christ,

it is even in the face of your sin,

it tenderizes you.

It makes you meek.

The meek don't walk around with a sourpuss.

The meek smile.

Because in their humility,

there is gratitude for what God has done for them in Christ.

They see themselves as they truly are.

The meek are the humble.

Martin Lloyd-Jones,

amazing preacher of a bygone era,

in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount,

says,

meekness is essentially a true view of oneself.

So citizens of heaven realize

that they are spiritual beggars

made citizens by God's grace.

Citizens of heaven realize

that they've sinned against a holy God

and continue to,

and they mourn it,

and yet experience the comfort

that only Christ provides.

That will make you meek.

So meekness is seeing oneself

in light of who God is

and what God has done for us in Jesus.

Meekness blooms in that atmosphere.

A.W. Tozer,

who wrote the book Knowledge of the Holy,

writes in the first chapter,

first page,

first paragraph,

first sentence,

what comes into your mind

when you think about God

is the most important thing about you.

And I would agree with him.

And here's why.

What you believe to be true about God

will define and determine how you live.

What you believe to be true about God,

whether that's right or wrong,

whether it's accurate or inaccurate,

what you believe to be true about God

will define and determine how you live,

what you think about yourself and others.

So in this progression of the Beatitudes,

the meek are those

who know they've been put in their place

by God's grace.

They know their sinfulness

and they know God's generosity,

His comfort.

They know who their God is.

They are themselves,

they see themselves as they truly are,

sinners saved by grace.

That's the meek.

Now let's look at the heart of meekness.

We're just starting to get there.

At the heart of meekness.

Third point,

at the heart of meekness.

At the heart of meekness

is not a woe is me.

It's not I'm a loser.

At the heart of meekness

is a heart for God's glory.

It's a heart for God.

It's a fullness of joy in God.

And so as you're reading Matthew 5,

Matthew 5:5

verse 5,

blessed are the meek,

you may be asking,

well, how do you know that?

How do you know that the meek,

there's a fullness,

a heart full of God

just from Matthew 5, 5, salvati?

How do you know that?

Well, here's how.

Jesus, in Matthew 5, 5,

is actually quoting from Psalm 37.

So if you want to turn your Bibles

to Psalm 37,

that's going to help you

get the full sense,

get something about this word meek.

And as you're turning there,

what you need to know

is that Jesus is quoting

from Psalm 37, 11,

where David writes,

blessed are the meek,

for they shall inherit the land.

Psalm 37 is a psalm of David,

like I just mentioned.

It's written to God's faithful

who were encountering evil people,

the wicked,

and they were fearing them,

they were fretting them,

and they were even envious of them.

And so in chapter,

well, verse 11,

David eventually says,

blessed are the meek,

for they shall inherit the land.

And what he says before that,

what he says before that

about how the meek live

helps us understand

who the meek are.

So, in verse 3,

do you see verse 3?

I've got to get to Psalm 37 myself,

sorry about that.

Verse 3,

trust in the Lord

and do good.

Verse 4,

delight yourself in the Lord.

Verse 5,

commit your way to the Lord.

Verse 7,

be still before the Lord.

The second part of that,

wait patiently for Him,

for the Lord.

These are the meek.

The meek.

The meek stand out

against the wicked,

against evildoers.

Because they trust in the Lord.

They delight themselves in the Lord.

They commit their way to the Lord.

They're still before the Lord.

They wait for the Lord.

Do you notice

all those little commands,

they have an aim.

They have an object.

They're moving in a direction.

All of it is Godward

in their direction.

The meek trust in the Lord.

The meek delight in joy the Lord.

The meek commit their way to the Lord.

They seek Him for protection.

The meek are still before the Lord.

They want to experience His presence.

The meek wait patiently for the Lord.

It's on His time.

And so what I want you to see in this,

according to Psalm 37,

David thinks about the meek

in fullness.

They are those who live for God.

They humbly live for God.

Those who do these things,

trust, delight, commit,

are still before,

wait patiently on it.

They're the meek.

They're not haughty evildoers.

They are humble God lovers.

At the heart of meekness

is a heart for God.

That's what we see in Psalm 37,

what leads up to Psalm 37, 11.

So it helps us to understand

a little bit more about the meekness

that Jesus is talking about.

Can I just say this?

Do you know the reason why

someone, a Christian,

would want to live for God?

Do you know why that is?

It's because of what God's Spirit

has done in them.

We can't take credit

for our own desire to live for God.

That desire to live for God

is a result of being born again

by the Spirit of God,

being regenerated by the Spirit.

we've been completely changed.

In fact, this word that's translated

meek here in Matthew 5

shows up in Galatians 5

in the list of the fruit of the Spirit.

It shows up as gentleness there.

But what that means is this.

Citizens of the kingdom are meek

and they're growing in meekness.

God is looking to cultivate

and grow meekness,

gentleness in us.

And the way He's going to do it

is helping us to see our God,

at least in part,

to live in light of who He is,

to trust Him fully.

All I wanted to help you see here

is that at the heart of meekness

is a heart for God

born by the Spirit.

Meekness is a humble posture of heart

put in place by God's grace.

your attitude towards God

will show up

in your attitude and action

towards others.

And so if you are meek towards God,

you will be meek towards others.

If you are humble towards God,

it will show up

in being humble towards others.

It all starts with our God.

It all starts with a heart for Him.

Meekness starts with God.

The fourth point I want to make this morning

is the way of meekness.

What does that look like

in Kenosha in 2016?

What does meekness look like today?

And before we get into it,

I've got seven things I want to show you.

Before we get there,

I want you to turn to Matthew 11,

Matthew 11:28

verse 28 and 29.

So when we talk about

the way of meekness,

what meekness looks like,

I want to first point you

to this.

Matthew 11, verse 28 and 29.

Matthew 11:28

You know these words.

Jesus speaking,

come to me all who labor

and are heavy laden

and I will give you rest.

You know those words?

And then look what He says.

Jesus,

take my yoke upon me

and learn from me

for I am,

say it with me,

what does your version say?

Gentle.

That's the word meek.

For I am gentle,

I am meek

and lowly in heart

and you will find rest

for your souls

for my yoke is easy

and my burden is light.

Do you know what this is saying?

Meekness

is a Christ-like character trait.

And so,

the way of meekness

is the way of Jesus.

To be meek

is to be like Christ.

And so what I want to help you now

is help us live meekness out.

Alright,

so seven things.

Because you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

the way of meekness

will mean dying to yourself

every day

to give God

His rightful place.

That's where it all starts.

You see yourself

rightly in light of who God is.

And so it means

you're going to die to yourself.

It's that

Copernican revolution.

It's like,

I'm not at the center of my world.

God is.

Every day.

That's where meekness,

humility starts.

And we see this played out

in the life of Jesus

in Matthew 26,

Matthew 26:39

verse 39.

Do you remember

Jesus in Gethsemane?

Weeping,

asking His Father,

Lord,

if it's possible

for this cup to pass before me,

that'd be great.

But then He says,

do you remember?

Nevertheless,

not my will,

but your will be done.

That's what we're talking about here.

Meekness,

humility,

submissiveness.

Because you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

you will die to yourself daily,

just like Jesus did there.

Second thing,

because you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

you will not see others

as more important than yourselves.

Because you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

you'll see yourself rightly

in relationship to other people.

Would you flip to Philippians chapter 2?

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Galatians, Ephesians,

Philippians, Colossians,

General Electric Power Company,

God eats popcorn.

Helpful ways to remember.

Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Starting in verse 3.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit,

but in humility count others

more significant than yourselves.

But in meekness,

count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only

to his own interests,

but also the interests of others.

There's meekness.

Have this mind among yourselves,

which is yours in Christ Jesus,

who though he was in the form of God,

did not count equality with God

a thing to be grasped,

but made himself nothing,

taking the form of a servant.

He became meek,

being born in the likeness of man.

We take on the same attitude

as our Savior and King

in relationship to others.

I consider others better than myself

because I'm taking the same attitude

of my King,

who did not count equality with God

something to be grasped.

He humbled himself,

even though he's in the very nature of God.

Amazing.

Because you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

you see others as more important than yourself.

It shows up in your family.

It shows up with your spouse.

It shows up in your small group.

It shows up when people come asking for help.

It shows up all over the place.

This meekness,

this Christ-like meekness.

The third thing,

because you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

you will not retaliate when wronged.

Vengeance is mine,

says the Lord.

This puts meekness to the test.

When you're wronged

and you want to retaliate,

God says,

no, no.

Vengeance is mine.

God is at the center of your world.

He'll take care of you.

Turn to Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

This is that great passage

that begins with,

I appeal to you, brothers,

by the mercies of God

to present your bodies

a living sacrifice,

holy and acceptable,

which is your spiritual worship.

This is spiritual worship

we're talking about.

In verse 14,

he says,

bless those who persecute you.

Bless and do not curse them.

That is meekness.

Rejoice with those who rejoice.

Weep with those who weep.

Meekness.

Live in harmony with one another.

Do not be haughty,

but associate with the lowly.

There's meekness.

Never be conceited.

Meekness.

Repay no one evil for evil,

but give thought

to do what is honorable

in the sight of all.

If possible,

so far as depends on you,

live peaceably with all.

Meekness.

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.

To the contrary,

if your enemy is hungry,

feed him.

It's meekness.

Being put in your place

by God's grace

will result in you

not retaliating when wrong,

but actually loving others

when you're wrong.

Father,

forgive them

for they know not what they do.

Luke 23.

The fourth thing.

Because you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

you will welcome correction

and not be defensive.

This is really hard.

When someone comes up to you

and wants to see something

in your life

and they want to point it out,

now,

if I'm pointing out my own sinfulness,

that's one thing.

But when someone else

points out my sinfulness,

that's another thing.

The meek welcome correction.

The meek,

the meek,

the meek,

don't put up walls

of defensiveness.

The meek are like

the person in Proverbs chapter 9.

Proverbs 9 · chapter mention

If you want to turn there,

go right ahead.

Proverbs chapter 9.

Proverbs 9 · chapter mention

9 verse 7.

Whoever comes to a scoffer

gets himself abuse,

and he who reproves a wicked man

incurs injury,

do not reprove a scoffer,

or he will hate you.

Reprove a wise man,

a meek man,

and he will love you.

Give instruction to a wise man,

a meek man,

and he will be wiser still.

Teach a righteous man,

a meek man,

and he will increase in learning.

If you've got something

you're pointing out in my life,

it'll help me be more like Christ,

of course,

tell me.

I love God.

I want to live for Him.

And I'll humble myself

when you're put in your place

by God's grace.

You'll welcome correction.

I couldn't think of an example

in the life of Jesus

where He was defensive

and resisted.

Well, He never sinned,

so He never needed to be corrected.

But I couldn't think of

any kind of defensiveness in Him.

He was open and welcoming to people.

Fifth thing,

because you've been paid,

you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

you will be a giver

and not a taker.

You'll be generous,

not greedy.

In Acts 20,

Paul is talking to the elders

of Ephesus,

and at the end he says,

remember the poor,

and then he quotes Jesus,

a quote that's not in any of the Gospels.

He quotes Jesus as saying,

it's better to give than to receive.

And Jesus is the greatest of all givers.

He gave Himself for us.

Because you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

you will be a giver,

not a taker.

The things that have been trusted to me

are not my own.

I'll be a good steward

for the glory of God.

Sixth thing,

because you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

you'll be courageous for Christ,

not ashamed of Christ.

Remember,

meekness starts

with a heart for God.

And so,

if I've been put in my place

by God's grace,

if He has radically changed my world,

I no longer live for myself,

but for Him,

who for His sake,

for my sake,

died and was raised from the dead.

I live for Him.

I live for Him.

Jesus says this in Luke 9,

For whoever is ashamed of me

and of my words,

of Him the Son of Man

will be ashamed

when He comes in His glory.

We are part of His kingdom.

We live for our King.

We're not ashamed of Him,

even though we'll get ridiculed for it.

But you've been put in your place

by God's grace.

So be courageous for Christ.

Open your mouth.

I believe,

therefore I spoke.

The last thing I want you to see is,

because you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

speak the truth in love

to your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Don't sweep sin under the carpet.

Love them.

Love them with your words.

Jesus said in John 8,

If you abide in my word,

you are truly my disciples,

and you will know the truth,

and the truth will set you free.

The meek are willing to speak.

The meek,

because they love God

more than anything else

and are wanting to live with Him,

they will love their brothers

and sisters in Christ

and speak what they need to hear

in love

so that they would be set free.

Because you've been put in your place

by God's grace,

you speak the truth in love.

Seven things,

not exhaustive,

but just ways to be thinking

what meekness looks like

in relation to other people.

If I'm meek towards God,

I'm going to be meek towards others.

If I'm humble towards God,

I'm going to be humble towards others.

The way of the meek

is the Jesus way.

It's not the doormat way.

It's the God-centered way.

God at the center of all things.

The way of meekness.

The last point on this,

in this sermon,

is God's promise to the meek.

If you turn back to Matthew 5.5,

we read,

blessed are the meek,

for they shall inherit the earth.

The meek are promised something.

They are promised to inherit the earth.

What does that mean?

What does that mean?

Well, let me just say this.

We need to be reminded of this

over and over again

because we have the tendency

to want to give up.

It's hard being meek.

It's hard being humble.

And what Jesus provides for us here

is something that gives us hope.

The best way to understand this,

the fulfillment of this promise,

is to think in terms of

the timeline when Jesus comes back.

Remember, we live in between

Jesus' first coming and His second coming.

As theologians talk about it,

we live between the already and the not yet.

We are already citizens

of the kingdom of heaven,

but the fullness of the kingdom

has not yet arrived,

but it will.

So we live in between those.

Right now, Jesus gives us new life.

He changes us.

He makes us new creations

from the inside out.

2 Corinthians 5.

But when He comes back,

I'm not sure if you're aware of this,

when Jesus comes back,

He's going to recreate

the heavens and the earth.

The old things will pass away.

And He will make all things new

on the earth.

Revelation 21.

A new earth.

A new earth no longer groaning

under sin.

He's going to make all things new

on the earth for us.

To possess.

To enjoy.

Forever.

With Him.

It just gets better.

God's people in His place

with Him.

Forever.

Awesome.

Give me some of that.

You know,

at His second coming,

when He returns,

He's going to distribute

parcels of the new earth.

I don't know how He's going to do it.

I was just trying to imagine

this past week.

Is it like,

you know,

when He comes back,

hey,

anybody who wants

some of the new Hawaii,

kind of line up here.

Ready?

Go!

First come,

first serve.

I don't think that's the Jesus way.

when He comes back

and hands out

new parcels

of the new earth,

this is my best shot at it.

He's going to say,

Michael,

I've got something for you.

I made it for you.

For you to enjoy forever.

It's yours.

This parcel of the new earth,

it's for you.

Enjoy.

And by the way,

I'm here too.

So,

like,

will my new earth parcel

be the new earth Waikiki

kind of a thing?

Will I be there for a million years?

And then God will say,

okay,

we're going to move you

to the new earth Rockies cabin

kind of thing

for another million years.

I don't know.

Here's what I do know.

No eye has seen

nor ear heard

nor heart

imagine

what God has prepared

for those who love Him.

First Corinthians 2.

It's better than anything

you imagine.

Here's what I also know.

The meekness and the gentleness

we demonstrate now

is countercultural

to the world we live in.

It's countercultural

to the arrogance

and harshness

of this world.

According to the values

and ethics

of this present age,

you are to leverage

all you got

to get

all you can

regardless of what it does

to others.

that's how,

according to the world system,

you inherit

the earth.

But that's not how

citizens of Christ's kingdom

live.

Because we've been put

in our place

by God's grace,

we are gentle

and tenderhearted

towards God

and others.

We're not

banking

on a reward

on this side

of glory.

We're banking

on Christ's

promise

of a new earth

parcel

when He returns.

It does our hearts good.

So we live

in this present age

for a future

eternal inheritance.

Back in the 1800s,

people would pack up

their prairie schooners

and go from Maine

to Montana.

They'd be given

a deed

of a parcel

of land

and they would

suffer through it

until they got there

and then suffer more,

of course.

The Christian,

this promise

is our deed.

You've got a parcel

in the new earth

waiting for you,

meek one.

So press on

and endure.

The promise

of this future

inheritance

inheritance

in the new earth.

This is our blessing.

It keeps us going.

Jesus is there.

The meek know

that they've been put

in their place

by God's grace

and it changes

the way that we relate

with others.

and now

we look,

we persevere,

we're eager for

when Jesus returns.

Blessed are the meek

for they shall inherit

the earth.

God in heaven,

thank you so much.

Thank you so much

that you have

inscripturated

these words

of Jesus for us.

God, would you

help us

make us meek.

God, would you

help us

remember,

incline our hearts

to the new earth.

We can bank on it.

We ask these things

in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.