Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Wonderful, it's great to welcome you this morning. Lovely to see you. We're continuing our series on the revolution of the Heart and there's some of the most radical words of Jesus that don't just grab our intrigue and our interest, but they absolutely go to the core of our being. And we're gonna look at some of the most radical things that Jesus said and their implications upon our life in modern Britain today in modern Western life. How they're so relevant. They're so provocative and they're something of God's grace wanting to work in your life and my life as we look at these together. But the scriptures are breathed by God that over many thousands of years through various authors, it's God's life that breathed his life into this word. And I'm gonna invite us to turn to Matthew's Gospel chapter five. The words will appear on the screen as well.
Speaker 1 00:00:56 If you've not got a Bible with you. If you want to follow though on your device or on your printed Bible or follow on the screen, it's entirely up to you. But I want you to really digest these words because they are words of life. And it says this from verse three. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the humble for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pur in hearts for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Speaker 1 00:02:12 As we go back to the first of those be attitudes, which form part of the, what we call the Sermon on the mount large group of people gathered around Jesus to hear him share these words. The first verse, blessed are the poor in spirit we looked at was a gateway verse that actually none of the others are possible unless you enter through this gateway. And it was nothing to do with financial poverty or status. It was everything to do with us recognizing that to come to God, we have to realize our pockets are empty, our cupboards are empty, we have nothing unless he comes and gives to us. That poverty of spirit is recognized in that our salvation only comes through Jesus. And then we looked last week at blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. And while God is a God of comfort over losses in our life, losses of loved ones, losses of jobs, losses of situations that have been special to us, he does comfort us at those times.
Speaker 1 00:03:17 But that is not the meaning of his words here. The meaning of his words are a desperation of an understanding that we are sinners, that we are so sinful. As the apostle Paul put it, what I want to do, I find myself struggling to do and what I don't want to do, I find it so easy to do that. The sinful nature is something that we grieve and we mourn. And the Lord says, when we mourn, we will know his comfort. But today we are gonna look at blessed are the humble, or many translations will say the meek for they will inherit the earth. Let's just look at the second part of that line. First of all, inherit the earth because everything in life and in society tells us that if you are going to conquest, win, inherit claim, then you have to be powerful.
Speaker 1 00:04:20 You have to have might strength be head and shoulders above the rest, that you've gotta fight your way to the top. That you have to do something profound, significant. Use your charisma, use your gifting, use your capabilities and get to the top and win to dominate if you're going to claim a land. And there's two um, armies fighting against each other, the most powerful wins. And Jesus says here that it's the meek that inherit the earth, not the strong, the powerful or the super talented. Jesus says it's the meek. This goes so against the flow of our society which says, assert yourself, sharpen your gifts, hone your skills, become the best step on whoever you need to step on and get to the top. But Jesus makes no mention in his words of those people having any claim on the inheritance of the earth. He didn't say the meek and the strong or the dominant or the talented.
Speaker 1 00:05:45 He said, jest, the meek will inherit the earth. There's no one else, just the meek and the humble. Now we may often think of Jesus standing out in history as someone who did miracles, healed bodies set people free from demons and spiritual oppression on their life of preaching incredible sermons of dying, a death he didn't deserve. Rising from the dead gloriously and ascending into heaven. They're all fairly spectacular things. And we might think to be a disciple of Jesus means that we also pray for the sick, cast our demons. Jesus said those words, go into all the world, preach the gospel, make disciples of all nations, cast our demons, heal the sick. He's commissioned his disciplers to do that. But of course another unique and spectacular thing about the life of Jesus was wasn't just the miracles he did, but was the code by which he lived the dna, the the, the philosophy by which he walked through every day and it made him stand out.
Speaker 1 00:06:59 It made him very, very different. And we see that Jesus is calling his disciples to live that different code, that different way of living, that revolutionary understanding about how we engage with the world around us. Jesus stands out and his followers are supposed to stand out as well. But this statement, blessed other meek would've wound his Jewish followers up so much because in their history there had been numerous times when they had been delivered from oppression and claimed some land, inherited some land and every time it had involved a fight. And they, in their understanding of history, they saw Moses powerful, strong leader that was able to confront one of the most powerful nations and leaders of the day, the Pharaoh in Egypt, they would've had in their mind Joshua who led armies to go and claimin territory and land a military leader. They would've had in their mind King David, a great warrior, a worshiper but a warrior.
Speaker 1 00:08:19 In fact, we read the Jesus, uh, the David wasn't able to build the temple that God had instructed him to build because he had blood on his hands. And here they were, these Jews, thousands of them gathered around Jesus speaking, blessed other meek for they will inherit the earth. And in their mind they understood that they were. Now, it wasn't the Egyptians that were oppressing them, it wasn't the Canaanites or the Amorites or any other Amalekites that were standing in their way. It was now the Romans. And they were waiting for a new king David to write up to come in on a horse with an army and to raise up a group of zealots to say, we are gonna overthrow our oppressors. And Jesus didn't say that. He said, blessed are the meek for they will inherit the land. They will inherit not just the land but the earth.
Speaker 1 00:09:15 And this would've mind blown his heroes because this was so different to anything they expected. Today we may have similar expectations to the listening Jews in this audience. We might think if we are gonna overturn the injustices in society, we have to have numbers, we have to have strength that maybe our influence in society will come when the church is so large in the city that people will have to take notice because we'll have votes. And you know what politicians love? They love votes, don't they? And so if we were 30,000 of us in the city of Exeter and suddenly they come into Poland Day and they think we better win those 30,000 people over, if we are gonna get voted back in again and we might think we need strength, we need numbers, we need resources, we need money, we need people that will make this happen.
Speaker 1 00:10:20 But Jesus doesn't say blessed are the strong or the numerous or the powerful or the resourced. He said, blessed are the meek. Yes, but they will inherit the earth. Now meekness is not weakness, but meekness is having strength that is controlled and disciplined. We'll see in a moment how it's not just our own discipline, but it's a discipline of the spirit in our life that enables us to truly be people who are meek. But an example of this is that in another one of those military leaders in Israel's past Gideon, a man who didn't stand head on shoulders above the rest, a man who said, I'm in fact I'm heading shoulders below everyone else in my family, God, you got the wrong person. And then God speaks to him says, rise up mighty warrior. And you might have thought that at that point Jesus realizing that Gideon's confidence was fairly low, that he might bless him and say, well listen Gideon, I'm gonna give you a massive army. I'm gonna give you loads of resources because you need to know that I'm with you and that will allow you to overcome the enemies of your day. But instead of that, after persuading Gideon of this prophetic wood that rise up mighty warrior, God then said, a Gideon, your army's too big. I want to reduce the numbers because it isn't about numbers, it isn't about resources, it isn't about power. Blessed are the meek, but they will inherit the earth. And this is absolutely revolutionary thinking compared to everything else in this world.
Speaker 1 00:12:12 This the attitude is probably the most challenging of the three we've looked at so far, let me tell you why blessed are the poor in spirit is something we look into our own lives and it's a, it's an internal thing. No one sees it, no one understands your thought process or your meditation of your heart. It's internal as is blessed of those who mourn. It's an internal thing. But when you come to blessed Meek, this is a statement of the world. Now this is a judgment that others bring upon you and they might look on you and they might judge you as different to others. And that means it's a reputationally charged be attitude. It's how others understand me in a world and in a world of dog eat dog B and meek just doesn't fit and we stand out.
Speaker 1 00:13:12 I've seen situations over the years where people have been faced with opponents or enemies or difficulties or challenges and they have had power in their hands to combat back those challenges. But they haven't. Let me tell you about one story. There's a minister that I, I know that quite a number of years ago he was leading a large church in this country and as he was leading this church, he wasn't, you know, a demonstrative character. He wasn't particularly charismatic, but he led sensitively and gently and this congregation just grew beautifully under the grace of God. And he took on a, a young guy in his team and this young guy was brash and confident and charismatic and cocky and over time this young assistant began to think I could do a better job on him. And so he began to share that with some people, Hey, do you think the lead pastor has lost the plot? Do you think we need someone a bit more dynamic leaving this church? And he began to have these conversations underhand whispers in dark places. If you have to look around to see if anybody else is listening, you probably should not proceed with a conversation.
Speaker 1 00:14:51 These conversations happened and they broadened so much that this spread through the church Bible says a little bit of east works of the whole batch do. And before you knew it, there was this sense of divide in the congregation. So much so that there was a member's meeting that was called and the consideration of that member's meeting was, should we ask the lead pastor to leave? Now before we tell, tell the result of that. Cuz I didn't tell the first service result of that and I had a cure of people afterwards say, how did that guy get on? But let, before I get to that, let me tell you what that lead pastor had in his hand and what he did, he had the power as the employer, he had the power as the lead pastor to turn to this young guy and say, Hey you, you shouldn't have been doing this. I can't trust you. You're going, could have done that. He could have stood up on a Sunday and said, I'm aware that there are rumors, there are things being said about me that I feel are unjust. He didn't do that. Let me tell you what he did. He prayed, he took it to the Lord.
Speaker 1 00:16:06 I remember talking to him and he said, A battle is not against flesh and blood. There's a spiritual thing at work here. I'm not gonna fight for my reputation. You see, we hear that Jesus made himself of no reputation and yet the tendency in our hearts is to fight for our reputation. You know, we sometimes we get, people leave negative reviews about the church and they're people who've never been some a lot of the time and they just don't like us <laugh>, they just say horrible things online or they post stuff and they call us all sorts of names. And we faced with a choice at that time. Do we, Hey, that's unfair, that's unjust. You shouldn't be saying that about us. You don't know our hearts. How dare you say that and we can fight back. But blessed of the meek pastor took you to the Lord that member's meeting and was called.
Speaker 1 00:17:08 There was a beautiful spirit of grace in the room and he continued to lead the church. That young guy moved on and the Lord had his way and that church went on to continue to know the blessing of the Lord. But it's difficult, isn't it? Put yourself in that situation. You have your own stories like that where people have tried to injure you say all sorts of things about you and it's painful, it's difficult. When I was involved in leading another church, we got together people working in different sectors and industries and we got together one of those groups and industries was the financial sector. And we gathered a few people together that worked in finance and we began to invite him to pray for each other, to help them work through the ethics and the ethos of the kingdom in their workplace. This one guy began to share in that group how he had been under pressure from his employer, from his boss to sell loans to people who were applying for them but that he knew couldn't really afford them.
Speaker 1 00:18:24 And so he was continually facing the pressure to give people things that he knew were not good for them. This was in the day before the computer said yes or the computer said no. When there were real people involved in making the decisions, not principles or spreadsheets, this was the day when, hey, I recognize that you can't afford this. But his boss said to him, you need to get as many of these products out of this store as you can because if we don't hit our targets this month, none of the staff get their bonus. So stop this ethic, stop this consideration of our people's wellbeing and just jolly sell the loans you've faced with a dilemma. What does he do? He met with these other believers and they began to pray and he just carried on meeting the clients, meeting the customers, analyzing their circumstances.
Speaker 1 00:19:27 And if he felt this was gonna be a stretch that they couldn't afford, he'd say, I'm sorry, we cannot offer you a product. Well at the end of that month, the boss called him in, he said, we've missed our targets this month and it's all because of you. Look at the office, look at all the staff, look at them all missing their bonus this month. And it is all because of you. I'm gonna call the regional manager. I'm gonna tell him how what you've done, how you've affected this store, how you are losing profits for this company. You are gonna be in trouble with a man. Didn't fight back, he just left it with the Lord. A few days later the regional manager turned up, saw the regional manager go into his boss's office and saw through the glass screen quite an animated conversation that was taking place.
Speaker 1 00:20:18 He thought, this is it, I'm gonna lose my job today. Eventually the regional manager called him in and as he called him in, the boss left the room. The local store boss, the regional manager sat down and said, I hear that you have been refusing to give loans to people because they can't afford it. Is that true? He said, yes, that's true. He said, I hear that you feel like we shouldn't be doing this as a company and you're affecting our profitability. Is that true? You said, yes, that's true. The regional manager reached across the table, he shook his hand and said, I'd like to make you the new manager of this store. We need people with ethics, we need people honesty and well done. You are now in charge. Now those things don't always happen. Sometimes you lose the job. Yeah, sometimes your stand means that you are victimized, pushed away, despised.
Speaker 1 00:21:14 But the issue is this, blessed are the meek. They're not concerned with reputation that they just do what they know is right. When I face criticism, the temptation is to fight back, is to shout the manager down and say, no, that's not right. Or to silence the critics. But Jesus said, blessed other meek, for they will inherit the earth. When you are faced with hatred, when you are faced with reputational damage that's difficult to handle, not fighting back, not trying to get one over on them is counter instinctive. You may be very eloquent with your words and so someone attacks you and you think I'm better with words than they are. I can get them back. I can call her the, maybe you've got a position of influence and power and you know that because they've done that, that you can dominate them with your position or your authority or your resources.
Speaker 1 00:22:25 Or maybe you can afford a better lawyer than they can. And you put it into their hands. And the the, the sentiment, the idea, the philosophy of our ages to crush them, to make 'em regret. Ever saying that, to take revenge upon them. And Jesus said, blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. This is such a costly thing to hear. If we were all to put this in practice, this would look so different to those of your work colleagues around you or your family. And yet Jesus said it and he said, they're the only ones who will inherit the earth. Not using your power to crush someone else takes enormous amounts of discipline. Rid and another character in the old testimony, he was a prophet. His name was Jeremiah. Jeremiah was uh, there were other prophets around you in his day, but the other prophets around were saying things that people wanted to hear.
Speaker 1 00:23:26 Be careful of people who always say things you want to hear. And Jeremiah had the word of the Lord and he wasn't a nice word and he refused to bow to the pressure of his day. He didn't fight for his position, he didn't fight to win back. He didn't try and crush everyone else. He just kept faithful to what the Lord was asking of him led to him being imprisoned, led to him, being stripped of his dignity, led to all sorts of trials that this prophet went through. But in his meekness, he kept his heart and his eyes fixed on the Lord. When people say unkind things about us, to not give a crushing reply back or make a winning point is challenging. But blessed are the meek. Jesus didn't say these words alone, he lived them. Look at his life. See if you can see any moment of his interactions with someone else where meekness was not present.
Speaker 1 00:24:30 You remember the sons of thunder, you remember the anger, Lord shall you, shall we call fire down on them? Strike them with lightning. Lord, how dare they say that they had no ability to do that and yet that was in their hearts. Jesus had the ability to do that and was filled with love. Meekness is the way of Jesus. Blessed are those who are like him. He didn't just say them, he lived them. He faced derision, he faced sarcasm. He faced hatred. He even faced betrayal and he carried on doing only what his father asked of him. But before you get too pleased with yourself and think, you know what, I don't fight back before you congratulate yourself and ask for a blue Peter badge at the end of the service. Let me just say that if you don't have the resources to fight back and don't fight back, that's not weakness. That's weakness.
Speaker 1 00:25:41 Weakness is not weakness, but it's strength controlled. So if you are not good with arguments and someone argues with you and you just turn around and walk away, but really in your heart you are hating them and you think, if I only was better with words, I would give you what for right now it's, it's not a case of sizing up the opposition and seeing a six foot five hunk knock you in the face with their fist and looking at them as a five foot 10 thinner person with less muscle and thinking, now I'm not gonna hit your back. You haven't hit them back because you know you won't win. That's not weakness, that's weakness. Jesus didn't not strike back because he was weak. He won an every stake but he didn't fight back because it was strength controlled. Meek weakness is not weakness but it's strength controlled.
Speaker 1 00:26:43 Passivity is not to be confused with meekness. Meekness is when you know you have the power or the words and the resources to win, but you choose not to use them because there's something controlling your desire to use them. Something holds the interior of a meek person and it is interior. This is not a self-help group. This is not an opportunity for you to say, I've gotta try hard not to fight back this week. There is a component on the inner world of our life that is able to help walk us through this and become like Jesus. Look at that in a moment. But when I know I'm poor in spirit, when I'm mournful of my sinful state, then the reality is I don't need to emphasize my reputation or winning of an argument to find myself value. Martin Lord Jones, a famous preacher, the last century saying of meekness, he said these words, the man who is truly meek is the one who is amazed that God and man can think of him as well as they do and treat him as well as they do.
Speaker 1 00:28:04 When you know who you are, to be honest, any nice thing people say about you is a bonus in this world that we live in where entitlement sense of people insisting on their self-identity, being expressed in whatever way they want. And this world where people have got all sorts of rights but very little responsibilities, it's really easy that if you don't get everybody meeting your needs, it's their fault and have a chip against the world. And I've found over the years that when people have injured you and hurt you, something might have happened in your childhood and it might feel like there's a big gash on the inside of your heart. It's hurt, it's painful. Some of you shared your stories with me over the years, things that have happened when you were innocent and young and vulnerable and they're things that have hurt you so deeply. And the temptation is as we carry that wound is to pick up a sword and say, if anybody comes close to doing anything like that again, I am going to get them. And it all only takes a little bit of a tipping point of a conversation. It may not be someone being horrible, but because it's beginning to look like it could be horrible, that sword quickly chops their head off. And there are lots of people acting out hurt in their life and this inner world, this humility, this peace, it comes from allowing the spirit of God to heal us, to put our weapons down. It doesn't matter. You have
Speaker 2 00:29:41 A WhatsApp message?
Speaker 1 00:29:42 Yeah, she's received a new WhatsApp message from the Lord <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:29:49 So we didn't hear it. It's okay. We can find it so easy to live with the weapons in our hands and the people of God are told to lay down their weapons. I'm not talking about weapons that are trying to fight injustice in others. I'm talking about weapons that are just trying to protect your reputation. Weapons that are trying to just look after your own interests, trying to guard your own pain. Jesus hasn't given you a sword to try and protect the pain. He has given you a grace to heal your pain, to bring you freedom and life on your inner world. We may not win our reputations or keep our jobs or see justice always overturned in this life, but we can win in the liberation of our spirits. Yes. Let me show you a scripture in one Peter chapter two verses 21 if you follow in with us, but it will be on the screen.
Speaker 1 00:30:45 It says for you are called to this because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He did not commit sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted he did not insult in return when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He bore, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that having died to sins we might live for righteousness by his wounds, his wounds, you have been healed. Whatever wounds you've had in your past, his wounds are deeper and is by his wounds that you can know healing that trauma, that pain. There's nothing wrong with therapy. There's nothing wrong with getting people to get alongside and pray for you. But his grace is deficient for you in your weakness. His grace longs to bring healing from the instability of our hearts, from the pain that we carry. And in doing so, we lay down our weapons of vengeance because we know that it's the Lord who's in charge of vengeance and not us.
Speaker 1 00:32:18 This is those blessed other meek for they will inherit the earth. What do I mean by inherit the earth? Of course, Jewish audience would understand about promised land, allotments of a courage that they could build houses and so on. But this is not really in one instance about a portion land. It's something far greater than that. It's that you and I get to live fully content understanding of whatever situation we are in or that we find ourselves that we can know his inner healing and peace and wellbeing in our lives. That his kingdom is calming us, his kingdom is manifesting us. But it also says in the scriptures that we will rule and reign with Christ. Scriptures talk about there being a new heaven and a new earth. And we will rule and reign with him who the meek two Timothy two 12 says, if we endure and endure, it's not just the prevailing winds of difficulty that come against us. Endure is leaving vengeance with the Lord. Endure is laying our weapons down. Endure is allowing the spirit of God to shape meekness within us. It says, if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us.
Speaker 1 00:33:50 Now as we come towards a conclusion, I want to talk about the power of the spirit and the word today's message is not a we must try harder. It's a surrender message. The word of God is powerful. It has been breathed by the spirit of God through multiple authors and it carries the life of God. You can go into a situation where you've got your own ideas or the ideas of God's word and I guarantee you that God's word is where the power is. Yes is where the life is, is where the hope is. The word of God is powerful and God is calling his church to be people that are filled with his word. There are things that we can lay hands on one another. We can gather together to worship and enjoy the presence of God. But God is calling us not to filled buildings, but he's called us a filled hearts with the word of God.
Speaker 1 00:34:59 Me read you from the book of Joshua chapter one, verse eight. It says this book of instruction. Other versions say the book of the law must not depart from your mouth. It should always be in that. If anything else is in there, you've got your mouth filled with something that it shouldn't. It should be the word of God. I don't mean you have to always quote scripture, talking scripture to each other, but the scripture should be inspiring our words. Yes, shaping our conversation, shaping our language. If cussin comes out of lips, if negativity comes out of these lips, if self cursing comes out of these lips, if cursing of others comes out of these lips, our mouths have the power of life and the power of destruction. And God's word is where the life is that your mouth resound with the with the word of God, the promises of his scriptures. Do not let the book of the Lord apart from your mouth and also in your thoughts. You ought to meditate on it day and night and in your heart. When was the last time you woke up in the middle of a light with a scripture flooding through your mind thinking, that's an interesting moment. What's that about?
Speaker 1 00:36:19 Or when was the last time you woke up and worries were on your mind? The needs of the next day were burdening you. You see, it's so easy to fill our lives with other stuff. We're not meant just to read the scriptures. Reading your Bible is not a tick box that says, I've read my Bible today. The word of God is not meant to be on your agenda is meant to be in our hearts. Yes, meditate on a day and night as you read the scriptures. What is it that's jumping out me today? What is it that's drawing me closer? Maybe memorize a verse a week. And when you drive into work, when you are walking to work, whenever you are in your home, that's scripture. Let it come up. Let it resound. Let it be something that you're meditating on cuz that's where the power is.
Speaker 1 00:37:11 As we allow the word of God to distill in us. Meditate on a day and night so that you might carefully observe everything written in it, then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. Let it be in your mouth. Let it be in your thoughts. Let it be breathing through your life and your actions. God's word is God. Breathed the breath of God flowed through the ink wells of the writers and the breath of God flows through the hearts of the heroes. Romans 10 17 says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And the spirit of God breathes his life through the word of God into the people of the kingdom, those who abide in him. What comes out of us at times of pressure is often what's most in us. If we are filled with a spirit, then when squeezed by the circumstances of this world, it will be His spirit that carries us, his word that strengthens us, his promises.
Speaker 1 00:38:17 But hold us. If you are going through a challenging season, get a word from God. Don't go and see a prophet. That's fine. Nothing wrong with prophets, but get a word from God. Amen. Hold onto it. Amen. Treasure it. Yes. May the promise come alive in your heart. Yes. Remember it. Meditate it. Put it on your screensaver. Yeah, put it on your phone. Keep going over it. Listen to it. Get sermons on it. Allow the word of God to dwell in you richly. Amen. And as it prospers and dwells in you richly, you will begin to see faith, the rise in your heart. And you know you'll come to a place where, hey, I don't need to fight this blessed of the meek, I will inherit the promises of God over the last few weeks.
Speaker 1 00:39:13 I didn't intend to do this when I started this series, but I finished with a corporate formal prayer. And now in week three, lots of you have said how helpful you found those. So I thought I would capture our response to blessed other meek with another formal prayer. I'm gonna put this on the screen. I'm gonna ask us to pray this through together. Would you let these be more than words as the spirit of God is in you now, would you say these to him for him? If you've been fighting, if you've been carrying swords, would you drop them? Would you put your whole trust in the Lord?
Speaker 1 00:40:16 Would you allow the healing and that comes from his wounds to heal your inner world? Let's pray these words together. I desire to be filled with your spirit. I desire to be filled with your word. I want to walk the uncommon pathway of Jesus and follow in his footsteps. I long to become like him in every area of my life. I find it all too easy to walk the common pathway of this world. Lord, forgive me. I find myself wanting to strike back when someone strikes me. I find myself wanting to use my strengths against those who are against me. I find myself wanting to use my energies to correct those who would injure my reputation, but I desire to walk the uncommon pathway of Jesus. Holy Spirit, wake up the word in my life and help me walk your pathway of meekness. Amen.
