Sunday Sermon Matthew 5:1-5 (3)

Here at FCC, we have declared the first Sunday of the month communion Sunday and it our desire that each time we take of the cup and bread, that we would understand the depths of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection more.

We welcome everyone who is here take to take with us provided Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.

I will pray us in and during this time of prayer, I will pause and allow the Holy Spirit to search our hearts do we take corporately in a manner that is worth of the Lord himself.

After I pray and the Holy Spirit prompts you, please come to the table, and take the elements back to your seat and we will take together.

Prayer

Lord, we praise you for all the gifts, graces, and blessings that you so freely give each and everyday and we thank you for these gifts. But as we think about these gifts, we cannot thank you enough for the finished work upon the cross. This work is why we are here today, this work is why we have life and life abundantly and it is because you Lord exchanged our sin for your righteousness, and you gave up your life in place of ours. You died a death that we should have died and because of this our heart beat is to worship you all the days of our lives. Lord we ask now that your Spirit would search our hearts, so that we take communion in a manner worthy of You.

Pause

Father thank you for the forgiveness of sins and for allowing us to enter the holy of holies. As we take this morning of these elements, may we know you more and understand the depths of your love for us and towards us.

In Jesus Name, We Love you! Amen and Amen

Jesus was the passover Lamb, he was unblemished, humble, and willing to fulfill the Father’s will. And here in Mark 14, Jesus institutes the Lord supper as they were at the passover meal or the last supper if may:

Mark 14:22–26 NKJV

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for your broken body and poured out blood for us. Jesus we are reminded of your suffering and the meekness you displayed throughout your life as God in flesh. As we open your Word now, we ask that you would speak to our hearts about what true meekness is and what tit should look like in our lives. Lord, remove any and all distractions that could prevent us from receiving with meekness your implanted Word which is able to save our souls and please Lord, encourage and build us up. Grant healing and hope where it is needed, and help us to remain steadfast and immovable always abounding in your work. And one last thing, please oh please, calm the storms in our lives, but in the midst of them, help us to learn the lessons you desire and become more like you!

In Jesus Name, We Love you! Amen and Amen

We have come as far as Matthew 5:4, so let us open our Bibles there and read our text for today.

Matthew 5:1–5 NKJV

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then 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.

I do not know about you, but so far Matthew you has been a blessing to my soul.

Each time I study, it seems like the Lord is refining and purifying my heart.

I have learned so much over these last few weeks of the areas of my life that I need work.

There are times that I have felt like I am a piece of precious metal being hammered out on an anvil, that God is fashioning me into what he wants me to be.

Or another great example, is the potter and the clay. The lump of clay cannot become what the potter desires without first putting pressure upon the lump. Without pressure the lump of clay would remain a lump and not be turned into a vase or a beautiful cup or bowl.

I want you to know that I have not arrived, which I am confident is not a surprise to you!

How has the Lord spoken to you? What areas of you life does he want to shape and fashion.

Church, we could come here week after week, not felling pressure, not being challenged, but if we did this, we would all remain the same and for some reason I do not think you want that.

Do you come to remain the same ? Or do you come to grow ?

I am hopeful to grow and as we grow together, our families, our communities, our work places will be strengthened and many will come to know Jesus through our witness not just in words church, but in actions...

ENOUGH

Review

In looking back, we know that Jesus has stepped into a religious and politically charged climate.

The Jews are enslaved by Rome if you may, and they are seeking a conqueroring King that can free them from the oppression and make Judaism thrive once again.

The sad thing here is that the religious people and leaders of the day, thought that they were walking with God, but reality is that they were keeping the rules that they had created and not God, therefore, making them self-sufficient and self-righteous.

They were convinced that what they did made them righteous, and then Jesus shows up and when he started teaching, he turned everyone’s world upside down that would listen church.

We must listen, because God’s ways and are not our ways, and he uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

Over the past few weeks, we've been studying the portion of the Sermon on The Mount known as The Beatitudes.

And we've been focusing on the first three of the beatitudes, because they share a common purpose.

They teach us what it means, at the earliest stages, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and what being righteous is.

Their main intention is to show us that, to be a disciple, we must first come to terms with our great need for God's grace.

The first beatitude, you'll remember, taught us the very first step in our awareness of this need. It says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God" (Matthew 5:3). And in speaking these words, Jesus was teaching us that the man or woman who is truly on the pathway to blessing before God is the one who, before all else, realizes that he or she has nothing to offer God in order to earn His favor - that we come as "poor" sinners, who are utterly bankrupt in a spiritual sense.

That's the first necessary attitude to have in becoming one of Jesus' disciples. And note the good news of His promise: that the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who come to Him in such need.

And the second beatitude builds on that sense of spiritual poverty. It says, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (v. 4). And in saying this, Jesus was teaching us that His disciples not only come to God in the absolute poverty of their souls and in desperate need of God's grace; they also must come with genuine sorrow and mourning over the sins that made them so needy in the first place. And again, the good news is that those who confess and mourn over their sins in this way will be comforted. Jesus is able to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

Again, mourning over our own sins will lead to the mourning of the sins of the world.

But again church, this can also mean that God comforts those who are mourning over loss and there are many losses, but also over a broken heart!

And now, we come to the third beatitude. And we wont rightly understand it if we don't see it in relation to the first two.

People who truly recognize the poverty of their own souls before God, and who truly mourn over the grievousness of their sins, are people who have a proper perspective of themselves. They know that they cannot stand before God with a sense of pride and self-assertiveness. They no longer see themselves as having any right to be "in control", and they stop denying Him His rightful rule over their lives. They realize that, apart from God's grace, they are nothing.

Matthew 5:5 NKJV

Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

It is importnat for us to realize that there is a natural progression here. That these be -attitudes are building on each other.

They are like placing block upon block and building a beautiful structure.

A structure that leads to holiness and being like Jesus.

Blessed means to be blissfully happy, but not from outward circumstances, people, places, or things, but this blessedness come from having a relationship with the Lord on the inside.

What is this meekness that Jesus is speaking of?

Meekness is not weakness as some might say, it is actually the opposite.

The world teaches us to be self-sufficient, proud, and strong, and Jesus shows up and says that is not the way we should walk of be.

He turns the table again church, he is shaking them up because of there sufficiency, self- righteousness, and pride.

SELF-RIGHTEOUS ILLUSTRATION

A businessman well known for his ruthlessness once announced to writer Mark Twain, "Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the 10 Commandments aloud at the top." "I have a better idea," replied Twain. "You could stay in Boston and keep them."

Meek-praus- gentleness of spirit, humble, considerate, kindness, modesty, mildness of disposition, and leniency.

Church all those ideas imply the idea of strength or power brought under control.

The primary focus of the word isn't so much the basic nature of someone as it is their outward conduct.

It's an inward virtue expressed in an outward behavior toward others.

The world says, “Blessed are the aggressive, for they shall be successful.”

Yet, Jesus says it is the meek that shall be happy and really blessed of God.

Meekness is a spirit of humility before God and gentleness towards all men.

Meekness is an honest evaluation of one’s self and seeing his place in the total plan of God.

The truly meek person is not proud of himself, does not demand anything for himself and is not constantly defending himself.

He sees himself as a humble servant of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

NOTE: John Bunyan put it perfectly, “He that is down need fear no fall.”

Of all the beatitudes, I suspect that this one is the one most easily misunderstood.

Somehow along the way, we've learned to associate "meekness" with the idea of "weakness" - so that we understand Jesus to be saying, "Blessed are the passive;" or "Blessed are the victims;" or "Blessed are the wimps."

But nothing could be further from the truth.

I think we can learn much about the meaning of true "meekness" from

Ephesians 4:1–3 NKJV

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The word gentleness here is the same word as the one translated meekness.

DA Carson says, “Meekness is a humble manner toward others that is expressed in longsuffering and is motivated by love and a controlling desire to see the other’s interest advanced ahead of one’s own.”

A.W. Tozer once wrote, The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto."

The greatest example of this meekness is obviously found in Jesus, look at what:

Philippians 2:5–8 NKJV

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

The humility and meekness that was displayed here came form heaven church and the only way for us to tap into this it to be connected with the God who created the heavens.

Jesus was humble and meek so that you and I could be humble and meek toward others and with others.

Plus without this attitude in our lives, we will simply live a life of self-will run riot

How many times in a day or a week do you place yourself above others?

True Humility Is Not Thinking Less of Yourself, It's Thinking of Yourself Less. -C.S. Lewis

Matthew 11:28–30 KJV 1900

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Did you see that? Jesus said he was meek and lowly in heart! Our we meek and lowly of heart? Or do we demand that everything be done our way? Do we have do get in the last word and make sure everyone knows how much we know?

Meekness is not just humility as we see here, but it is power under control:

Proverbs 16:32 NIV

Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.

This is power under-control!

Proverbs 25:28 NKJV

Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls.

This is power out of control!

Proverbs 25:28 NIV

Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.

So meekness is being humble and gentle church, placing the needs of others above your own and always having self-control that is power under control.

An Example of Peter not having meekness and Jesus teaching it

Luke 22:47–51 NKJV

And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, “Permit even this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.

A final example of meekness from the OT

Abraham was a man to whom God had pledge to give the promised land. It was to be his inheritance. God had called him away from his homeland, and brought him to the land of Canaan; and He told him, "To your descendants I will give this land" (Gen. 12:7).

But Abraham's nephew Lot lived with him; and the flocks and herds of both of them became so great and prosperous that the land could no longer hold them both. In fact, Abraham's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen began to fight with each other.

Now, the land of promise was on the west; and it was Abraham's land by God's own pledge. It was clearly given to him by God; and Abraham could have justly sent Lot far away from it. But Abraham had great confidence in God and had grown to be a meek man under God's hand. And so, he did a remarkable thing.

Genesis 13:8–9 NKJV

So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”

Genesis 13:10–14 NKJV

And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward;

Can you see Abe’s meekness, power under control, humility, and placing Lot’s need above his own when he could have exerted authority over him?

Even though the land was his, he didn't try to control the outcome. He didn't manipulate the situation or assert his rights. He was meek in his approach to Lot; and he trusted God to keep His promise.

God blessed Abe and in inherited the earth:)

In each of these examples, we see a two-fold focus of true meekness:

in one sense, the focus is upon our relationship with God;

and in another sense, the focus is upon our relationship with other people.

True biblical meekness involves more than merely ceasing from an enthronement of self. It involves taking ourselves off the throne of our lives, in order that God might have His rightful place upon it.

If we have meekness toward God, if God is on the throne of our hearts we will be meek toward others and:

Philippians 2:3–4 NKJV

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Place others needs above our own

We will live and walk in forgiveness

Mark 11:25–26 NKJV

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

3. We will bear willingly the faults of others. Rather than magnify the faults of other church, we will pray for them.

Let us remember to not try to pull the speck out out brothers eye, when we have a plank in our own eye.

This text does not stop here, it goes on to say deal with your plank so you can help your brothers or sisters with their speck correctly

Besides the things we often magnify within others, we have them too!

Matthew 5:5 NKJV

Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

In order for us to inherit anything church, we must first have a relationship based on meekness and then the earth will be ours because we are King’s kids!

If we are going to be meek, we must have these three things:

We must know our condition! Blessed are the poor in Spirit and Blessed are those who mourn.

We must die daily and live a surrendered life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and let the Holy Spirit lead us.

We must learn for Jesus who is meek and lowly of heart.

As I close, I wanted to say that I love each and every one of you and I must confess that this is a struggle of mine.

How about you?

According to Bill Farmer's newspaper column, J. Upton Dickson was a fun-loving fellow who said he was writing a book entitled Cower Power. He also founded a group of submissive people. It was called DOORMATS. That stands for "Dependent Organization of Really Meek And Timid Souls -- if there are no objections." Their motto was: "The meek shall inherit the earth -- if that's okay with everybody." They symbol was the yellow traffic light.

May we yield when the Holy Spirit gives us yellow traffic lights throughout our week and remember, Blessed our the meek, for they will inherit the earth!

Prayer

Lord, thank you for teaching us what it means to be meek and whaat meekness should like like in our lives. Please Father bring strong conviction when we are not meek and lead us in the way of meekness through your gentle Holy Spirit. And for those of us today, that would say this is a struggle of mine, we ask first for your forgiveness and second for your enabling grace to help us to stay off the throne, be humble, be forgiving, be authentic, and place the needs above others above our own and God please help us have self-control in every area of life we lack it!

In Jesus Name, We Love you! Amen

Psalm 24:1 NKJV

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.

THE LORD BLESS YOU!

YOUR MISSION STARTS NOW!

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