“Blessed are the Spiritual Submissive”

THE BEATITUDES: How to Be Truly Blessed Sermon Series

“Blessed are the Spiritual Submissive”

(Part #4)

KEY PASSAGE: Matthew 5:5 (NASB)

In Psalm 116:12-13, the psalmist offers God public praise in response to the salvation God has granted him. Your salvation to everyone here today includes deliverance from doubt, depression, failure, and sin. Your salvation also includes the deliverance that comes when You forgive us and help us get started again. And so, Father God, our prayer to You is simple – may You accept our praises offered this morning? Because if we are silent about Your goodness and glory, the world will never hear about it. We open our mouths this morning and praise God because You have given us a second, third, fourth, and fifth chance. God bless you, and you may have your seat. Thank you, Worship Team, for blessing us this morning and bringing us into God’s holy presence.

TITHE and OFFERING

It is time for us to honor God with our tithes and offerings, and I want to encourage everyone to be faithful in their giving so the church can do God’s work. Giving to the church to do God’s work is an investment where God is well pleased. Giving to God demonstrates that He is the source of everything you have. So, let’s put our trust in God as an act of faith when we give our tithe and offering this morning. Our worship team will lead us with a song, and the ushers will pass around the offering plates so we can collect our tithes and offerings.

WELCOME

Welcome [welcome everyone] to our Sunday Worship Service. Please go around the church and find some folks, greet them with love and passion, and tell them Jesus loves you. Our first-time visitors, please stand so we can see you. We also welcome all who join us online. Let's clap for our online viewers.

ANNOUNCEMENT

· Night of Worship Service [is coming up] is on Friday, September 27th, at 6:00 p.m. Please join us for a night of Praise and Worship. These are times and [moments] when we gather as a church and have extended times of music, singing, prayer, testimonies, and praise. There is no sermon or teaching time.

· Men’s Breakfast is on Saturday, September 28th, at 10:00 a.m.

· Baptism will be held at Lakeview Park in Lorain, Ohio, on Saturday, September 28th, at 2:00 p.m.

· The Marriage Checkup Workshop is on Friday, October 25th, at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, October 26th, at 9:00 a.m. I want to remind all married couples that the spots are filling up, so please register for the marriage workshop if you can.

· Wednesday Night Bible Study Connect is at 7:00 p.m. Please join us on Wednesday night to STUDY THE WORD OF GOD.

· Also, starting next month, our Church’s Corporate Weekly Prayer Meeting will change to once a month. We meet on the first Saturday of every month at 8:00 a.m. I want to encourage all church members and ministry leaders to attend the once-a-month Corporate Prayer Meeting. We will hold a Corporate Prayer Meeting on Saturday for those who want to meet and pray.

· Please complete the sermon survey sheet and return it to the usher and media team.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Let us pray. LORD, sometimes our heads get in the way of our hearts, and we can think and reason our way out of submitting to the will of God. I pray that our sermon for today will help all of us to submit to God’s will so that Your intention for our lives will be maximized. May the things that break Your heart also break our hearts. I also pray that You will accept and bless the tithes and offerings so that our giving is used to advance the Kingdom of God. And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen.

DECLARATION of FAITH in GOD

Let us stand and say the Declaration of Faith in God together.

SERMON INTRODUCTION

Our sermon series is about “How to be Truly Blessed.” We have tried to explain [biblically] that true blessing is not only external things you get, such as houses, cars, clothes, better jobs, and more money. All of those are fine, but you could have those things and be cursed because a true blessing is the internal capacity of the kingdom followers of Jesus Christ to enjoy and extend God’s goodness in their lives. [That is] they don’t have stuff out here but are happy here on the inside.

Their happiness leads them to extend God's goodness to somebody else. Your blessing will perish or decay if [it is] not extended or shared with others around you. Let me remind you that God doesn’t mind blessing His people with stuff on the outside as long as it comes from what He is doing on the inside, and God’s people express it in [the lives of other people].

SERMON EXPOSITION

That is what the Beatitudes are all about. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” those who declare spiritual bankruptcy. They are unable to meet and address the needs in their lives independently from God because they enjoy heaven overruling earth. “Blessed are those who mourn.” These are people who are sad over sin in their lives. They mourn over sin and despise it. They see sin the way God sees it and seek to treat it as God does because God comforts and reassures a repentant heart.

That leads us to the third Beatitude in our sermon series “How to Be Truly Blessed.” In Matthew 5:5, Jesus said, “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.” Some Bible translations render the gentle as “the meek.” For example, the King James Version uses the word “meek.” Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

When most people hear the word meek or gentle, they don’t like it, especially for men. And I will tell you why. Because to them, the word meek means weak. That means indecisive or wishy-washy. Well, the Holy Bible would say that would be an insult or a slap in the face to both Jesus and Moses because both men [we are told] are called meek in the Scripture. Numbers 12:3: “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.”

In Matthew 11:29, Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” I want to zero in on the meaning of the word meek based on the Bible. Meek doesn’t mean that a person is soft or sissified [weak]. Meek doesn’t mean that a person is wishy-washy. Meek means power is under control. Meekness or gentleness is power under control. [Don’t miss that].

That is the simplest definition I could give you. When Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek," in Matthew 5:5, you need to understand that this wasn’t a popular term in the days of His ministry. The Jewish people were under the rule and control of Roman authority, and they wanted to get these folks off their backs from holding them hostage. So, guess what—they were looking for a leader who would set them free through military power.

Many people today don’t understand when Jesus went to trial. Pilate asked the large crowd, “Now, who do you want us to give you, Jesus or Barabbas?” The crowd shouted and said to Pilate, “We want Barabbas.” Why? Because Barabbas was a Zealot. The Zealots resisted the Romans’ rule over the Jews.

So, when they said, “Give us Barabbas, and not Jesus,” they [were saying we don’t] like His method or approach to free us from the Romans’ authority. We want the military insurgents, and one of their leaders was Barabbas. Barabbas was aggressive, tough, authoritarian, and he was a rebel. We want somebody who will use human power [Watch This] [not spiritual or supernatural power] to get the Roman’s authority off our backs. That was the reason [why] they chose Barabbas over Jesus. Jesus was just a little bit too meek. Meekness is power under control. But Jesus said the meek, not the strong, [not] the aggressive, will inherit the earth.

SERMON EXPLANATION

The Greek word for meek suggests gentleness and self-control. So, [the concept of] meekness or gentleness does not mean a loss of power or strength. Meek means to be under control. Meek means the power is submissive to the master. That is [meekness], power submissive to the master. Meekness means power under legitimate control, and we will explain what that means.

When you see men who are violent towards their wives. Wife beaters, if will. Everybody wants to be tough and strong. If you have to be tough or [hard], it is because you are weak. And when you have to make yourself hard and be [tough], hang out with your hard homies, that is a sign of a weak man because greatness is power under control.

Let me talk to the men for a moment. If you are a man [and you are] married, you don’t have to clench your fist to demonstrate that you are the man in the home. If you are [really] the man of your home, you are strong enough with your presence to set the agenda so your family can follow your direction.

[Watch this] And when you are “poor in spirit,” which leads to mourning over sin, which we talked about last week, you give up your self-sufficiency, leading to meekness. Meekness, then, is who I am in response to the rule of God over my life. Be you male or female. You know you are not meek when you regularly lose self-control. Nobody is perfect. And I will be telling you a lie if I suggest that there is never a time when you lose control. I am not here to suggest that there is never a time when you lose control, and that is more than being angry. But where your anger controls you, and you are not controlling it. Then meekness has not set in yet because meek and [gentle] people do not live an out-of-control life.

Proverbs 25:28 says that if you are meek [you are not out of control]. [It is like] A person who lacks self-control. We are told to “go after meekness” in Zephaniah 2 verse 3. Go for it. Meek people are willing to surrender to legitimate authority over them. Regardless of their strength, power, skill, education, financial acumen, or financial accumulation, when there is legitimate authority over them, they submit or surrender to that authority.

So, meekness [has to do with] surrendering and submitting to legitimate authority, which ultimately belongs to God. According to James 1:21, the Bible says … “If you are not meek or gentle, the Word of God will not work for you.” You can read the Word of God all day, but it will not work for you if you are not meek.

[Watch this; here it is] Meekness is God’s way of bringing humility into our lives as we humble ourselves to the legitimate, spiritual authority. One of the [great] challenges we have today in counseling people is their willingness to submit to legitimate, spiritual authority. And once you have that rebellious spirit [that contrary spirit, that spirit that is not of God], you cancel out the work of God, working through whatever it is that you need the power of God to overcome. It is the absence of meekness.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION

A meek person bows low before God to stand tall among men. First, you must be willing to bow before [the] legitimate spiritual authority. It is a willingness to bow. Let me give you an illustration of what it means to be meek.

The [biggest] players on a football team are the offensive linemen. They are the biggest, [they are the strongest], but they also go the lowest when it is time to run a play. The biggest and strongest get down and go to the [lowest] because that is where they get their leverage to perform. The bigger you are, the [more] meek you should be because the bigger you are or the bigger you think you are, the more out of control you might tend to be.

The Hoover Hydroelectric Dam produces enough energy for California, Nevada, and Arizona. 19% of the electricity from the Hoover Dam goes to Arizona, 23% to Nevada, and 58% to California. The Hoover Dam generates, on average, about 4 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power each year for use in these three states. It has a concentrated power under control, producing all this energy for these three states. [Watch This] But if you ever let loose that body of water, it would bring disaster and chaos to those very areas it is designed to help provide with electricity.

My point is that when there is power without control, [there is no meekness], and you are not blessed. We have all seen people who are out of control. Let me ask you a question. Do you want to be well on the inside? Then, place all that you have under God’s authority. Place everything you have right now under God’s control, and you will be blessed. Being well on the inside is a person who places all they have under the legitimate authority over them. And this is consistent with God. So, you first start with God. And if you are a married woman, you bring all of your strength, skill, education, and gifts under the legitimate of your husband. You don’t lose any of that when you get married.

It just has to be brought underneath the legitimate authority of your husband according to Ephesians 5:22. And for the men, if you are a Christian, you [bring] all your gifts, your skill, your talent, and your manhood, and you bring it under the authority of God through the context of the local church. Everybody has to be meek under legitimate authority. Many of our problems today result from our refusal to be meek or to operate under the legitimate authority over us.

We see this with our children [the young people] today who are not meek. Youth who are not meek don’t want to come under the legitimate authority of their parents; they are more concerned about satisfying their peers. There is an absence of meekness in our culture today. And if we Christians are going to be meek, we must say, “We will take all that God has given us and place it under legitimate authority because meekness is not weakness. It is under control.”

What makes it legitimate is that it is consistent with God. That raises a question: What are the payoffs? What is the benefit of becoming a meek person and operating under legitimate authority?

SERMON EXPLANATION

Our text for today says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” This promise comes from Psalm 37. Let me read you a few verses from Psalm 37 and then explain what this means in biblical times and what it means to you today to be truly blessed, beginning with the first verse.

Verse 1 says, “Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong.” Verse 11 [goes on to say], “But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.” Verse 22 says, “Those the Lord blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be destroyed.”That is from the land. Verse 34. “Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.” That is where Jesus gets this statement: inherit the land or the earth in Matthew 5:5.

Well, back in biblical times, what was the land? This was the Promised Land. It was the land of promise that God said I will take you to. God said, “If you are meek, willing to submit to legitimate authority.” I am going to take you to the Promised Land. I promise I am going to take you, and I am going to give you your allotted portion.

Why did not the first generation of Israel make it to the Promised Land? Their refusal to be meek. Their refusal to be humble. They would not submit to the legitimate authority of God, and they would not submit to the legitimate authority of Moses. Their refusal to submit to legitimate authority canceled their ability to enjoy God’s promise. [Watch This] You will never maximize God’s intention for you when you refuse to submit to His legitimate authority. The absence of meekness will cut you off from the Promised Land.

Every believer here this morning has an allotted portion. That is what God has determined to give you in life. Ephesians 1 talks about Spiritual Blessings in Christ. God says He has already done everything He will ever do for you. [In fact], you don’t have to say, “Lord bless me.” It says, “… you have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing.”

The problem is that you don’t see them all yet because it is an allotted portion over your lifetime, and God has incremental times when He will give you certain things. But He has already placed them on deposit. That is your allotted portion. Whatever that is.

He says the meek inherit their allotment. Those who are coming under the control of God and the legitimate earthly authorities that are over them will receive their allotted portion in life. That is inheriting the earth. That is getting the Promised Land. That is getting what God has authorized you to have. But you only get your allotment if you are meek. It is not because God hasn’t given it to you. It is just that you haven’t submitted yourself under the legitimate authority so that you can receive it.

Many Christians have been waiting and praying for years to receive the things God has already given us, but our refusal to be meek keeps them away. Our refusal to be meek keeps God’s blessing away from us. Many men here have cut off God's blessing from their families because they refuse to submit to God's will. Many women here have cut off God’s blessings to their families because they refused to submit to their husbands.

Listen to me [Watch This]. God has an allotment for you. And I know circumstances in your life may have caused delay. It may have been the mistakes of others. It may have been your mistake, but the blessing hasn’t changed or moved. That blessing has been there. All God is waiting for you to do right now is to submit to His legitimate authority. And once you submit to God's authority, you can claim your blessing. You can claim [your] allotment. You can claim your Promised Land.

FAITH APPEAL, CALL to ACTION and ALTAR CALL

[If] you want an allotted place in the kingdom of the great King, the Lord Jesus Christ, you will get one when you come into His kingdom broken, mourning, and meek, realizing your sinfulness, [your] spiritual bankruptcy, grieving over it, depending on God for everything.

Only the meek are saved. Only those who do not trust in themselves are saved. Psalm 149:4 says, “Only the meek are saved.” Only the afflicted experience God’s salvation. James 4:6 says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” It is a command by God to be meek.

It is not only commanded by God to be meek, but it is also necessary if you are going to receive God’s Word. You have to be humble to receive the gospel. You can’t be proud and self-righteous. Meekness glorifies God because it gives everything back to Him; it confesses your inability so that whatever is accomplished is for God’s glory.

So, how do you know if you are meek? By recognizing that you have no ability and power to save yourself. That is where meekness begins. That is how you know that a person is meek. Do I recognize that apart from the grace of God and power [of God], I cannot be saved, and [I cannot] enter the kingdom of God? Do I recognize that I can do nothing to be saved? Do I realize I can’t accomplish anything with my fleshly strength as a Christian? Do I [recognize] that? If you do, then you are meek. It means you understand and recognize your inability to accomplish anything on the spiritual and divine level, and you submit to the legitimate authority of God.

Let me close by leaving you with these questions. Do you respond in obedience to God’s Word? That is the first test of meekness. Do you get angry when God is dishonored rather than when you are dishonored? Are you more concerned about God’s purposes not being fulfilled than yours? Do you [always] seek to make peace?

Are you more concerned about others than yourself? Do you receive criticism well and love those who give it to you? All of those are pieces of evidence of meekness. If you see those in your life, God has brought you to a place of meekness in His might, grace, and power. He has blessed you by bringing you into His kingdom and making you an inheritor of all [that] His Kingdom involves on this earth and in the glory to come if you are willing to submit to God’s authority. May God Bless You.

If you are here today and have not accepted Jesus Christ into your heart, please come forward so we can pray with you. And if you need prayer because of life situations, [life circumstances], [life ups and downs], please come forward so we can pray for you. Let’s stand on our feet.

BENEDICTION

Father, we need to humble ourselves so that we might be saved from sin and then enter into the fullness of Your will so that we might rejoice. Without meekness, a person may never maximize God’s intention. May we learn Christ to maximize God’s purpose in our lives, and may we be characterized by the very meekness that characterized Jesus Christ? We pray for those who may not know Christ, who have not entered the Kingdom of God, that they would come to this place of recognition of their spiritual bankruptcy, that they would grieve over their sin and, in meekness and humility, demonstrate a hunger and thirst for righteousness that only You can give. And, Lord, for Christians, help us to renew the commitment to be humble and meek, take pride [out of] our lives and self-will, our [own] purposes, and our [own] plans and our [own] petty desires and may we be consumed with that which brings You honor and glory and may we realize our weakness and infirmity and only in Your power can we accomplish anything. We surrender to that. Use us mightily through Your power; we pray in Christ’s name. Amen. God bless you. We will see you next week at 10:30 a.m.