Grosey's Messages

Law grace reading : 2 Chronicles 14:1-15

Bible reading Matthew 5:1-12

Word puzzles          One on the screen.

Frustrating.. this Beatitude can be frustrating too. The Meek.. inherit the earth!  What??!!

Inherit.. it implies someone dies and leaves you an inheritance.        The earth? Well that's a big inheritance.

Exaggeration? When? How ? who ? what?   Merret: "Frankly, we don't know all that that means, but I do know this. What Jesus is saying is, "When you will give God all that should come to Him, you will get all that you would want to come to you.""

BEATITUDE 3  The MEEK INHERIT

Beatitude 1 guilt. 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Beatitude 2 grief   4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Beatitude 3 grace  adoption to the Father.  5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

In Matthew 5:5 Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Now to some, meekness means weakness; but not to Jesus and not to Christians. To understand the meaning of "meek," we need to go back before Jesus because these words were not original with him. In fact, he was quoting Psalm 37:11, "The meek will inherit the land, and enjoy great peace."

Psalm 37: 10 In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. 11 But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. 12 The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, 13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.

Psalm 37:11, it was a promise that the meek would inherit the land. The early readers of the Psalm took it, and rightly so, to be referring to the promised land of Palestine. God was promising to give his people villages, towns, valleys and mountains where they would prosper.

But we get to Inherit the world.. inherit the land…

Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (6:10). The opposition between heaven and earth clearly implies that land/earth refers to the entire earth. The petition anticipates a time when God's plan for the earth itself will be fulfilled finally and completely. This is the blessed earth that Jesus' disciples will inherit.

Meekness in the LXX meant dependence and submission towards God.

Wow it is still an issue today!  But how did Israel keep the land in the times of the Kings of Judah? Reading through the books of Chronicles and Kings is telling.  It gives us understanding of what it means to be meek.  To be dependant  upon the covenant relationship with God.

Most of the Kings were too strong for God to use. 

2 Chronicles 16: 1 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 2 Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king's house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying, 3 "There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me." 4 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. 5 And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. 6 Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.   7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, "Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. 8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. 9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars."

1 Be Submissive to God's Ways In All of Life Because God is Your Father

God is in Covenant with you, therefore trust Him!

You are the sons of the Lord your God … For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth (Deut. 14:1–2).

You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from old is your name (Isa. 63:16–17).

O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever (Isa. 64:8–9).

At first sight it might appear that Isaiah was calling God Father because he was Israel's Creator, but matters are not as simple as that. God was the Creator of every human being, not just of Israel, but he had not established a covenant relationship with everyone. It is clear from the way that Isaiah addressed him that he regarded Israel's connection to God as something special, and different from what could be said about the entire human race. For him to call God Father was to acknowledge a particular relationship with him. In these verses, God is addressed as Father, not because he is Israel's Creator, but because he is its Redeemer, which reveals the nature of the special relationship that God has with his chosen people. The covenant context of God's fatherhood is also expressed in other Old Testament texts, although the word "Father" is not specifically mentioned. Consider, for example, the words of Moses: Psalm 103: As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him (Ps. 103:13).

The Lord Jesus brought us to understand the Fatherhood of God the Father.

 "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34) and "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46) there is no doubt that he was not talking to himself.

Jesus revealed that the Father had decided to redeem the world, not by himself but through his Son. The New Testament never explains why the Father and the Son are related to each other in this way. All that we can say is that both of them are eternally present in the Trinity, but why one of them is the Father and the other is his Son is a mystery hidden from our eyes (John 1:1–3) What we do know is that it was the Father's plan to save his chosen people and that the Son voluntarily agreed to become a man in order to carry out the Father's intentions (Phil. 2:5–8). The sins of human beings had to be paid for, not because the Father is vindictive but because his human children matter to him.

And this is where we get on with this Beatitude.  We are loved by the Father because of the grace we have received in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We as believers who have been poor in spirit and mourned for our sin and received comfort from God have the greatest comfort available, that we should be called the children of God. We have entered into a father child relationship with God.  That which was unknown under the Old Covenant is now made known to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that knowledge of the Fatherly covenant with God changes us.

Look out how the Lord Jesus picks up on this idea of reconciliation with God to know Him as Father in the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 6:8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 25 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

7: 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Of course the best reminder of the new relationship with God is the parable of the prodigal son. The Father restores the son to a restored relationship with his father.

Are you Submitted to the Father's Will? 

We live in such a competitive culture that we are taught never to give up, never to give out, and never to give in. There are certainly times when that is great advice, but there is virtue in a totally different way and for a totally different reason to sometimes giving up and giving in. What we are going to learn today is simply put: the way to be in control is to be surrendered to God's control. So, a meek person is a person whose will has been broken by the power of God and whose will is totally surrendered to the will of God. A meek person is simply someone who has finally and fully waved the white flag and surrendered all that they are to all that God is. 

Two horses: one is tame and the other is wild. On the outside, they both look exactly identical. They act the same, eat grass the same way, and both neigh the same way. How do you know they are different? Just try to put a saddle on both of them and one of those will react far differently because one is a meek horse (a broken horse, a tamed horse, a surrendered horse) while the other is not. That is why a truly meek person will get out of his bed every morning saying three words to God every single day, "I surrender all."

Matt 6:33  Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

Surrendering to the Lord of Heaven. You may hear about people experiencing mystical encounters, wonderful dreams, or mind-blowing moments during their conversion stories. And you might wonder if you have experienced true conversion, true salvation, if you haven't experienced something almost unbelievable, too.  While those types of experiences can be a part of a journey towards conversion, they are not the defining factor. Conversion isn't merely a feeling or an extreme encounter. 

Rather, conversion is inviting God to transform us and yearning for a complete turnaround, a shift in direction both morally and spiritually. It is not just about what you say, but about the transformation of your heart. Paul's true conversion on the road to Damascus was not solely based on what he saw or heard, but on the profound change that took place within him. 

Conversion is not just a one-time decision or a mere commitment; it is a complete surrender to the authority of Christ in your life.

 Have you experienced a personal transformation like this? If so, I encourage you to take a moment to express gratitude to the Lord for His saving grace.   If you have not yet taken this step personally, I pray that today will be the day you wholeheartedly surrender your life to Christ and embark on the journey He has planned for you.

"Be still before the Lord," commands Psalm 37:7, and verse 11 promises, "The meek will inherit the land." Meekness is the secret of possessing everything. And when you possess everything, you do not have to fret over what others have or what they are doing. King Saul's restlessness was caused by his envy of David, and he literally killed himself chasing David and trying to keep him from getting the crown. Saul's power was not under control, and it destroyed him.

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." What does that mean? Does it mean that meek people escape the difficulties of life? I don't believe so, because Moses was meek and yet he faced one difficulty after another. To answer the question we must go back to Psalm 37, where the original statement is found.

The conflict in this psalm is between the righteous and the wicked. (Note the repetition of "the wicked" in verses 10, 12, 14, 20–21, 28, 32, 34–35, 38, and 40.) It appears that the wicked are winning and the righteous are losing. James Russell Lowell phrased it, "Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne."

What can the righteous do in such a dangerous and difficult situation? Fret? No. God said, "Do not fret because of evil men" (Psalm 37:1). Fight? No. The Lord stands by to protect the righteous and fight their battle for them. "The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble" (v. 39).

Then what should the righteous do? Meekly submit to God's will by trusting in the Lord (v. 3), delighting in the Lord (v. 4), committing their way unto the Lord (v. 5), and resting in the Lord (v. 7).

The result is that they will "inherit the earth," which simply means that they do not have to be afraid of anybody or anything because God is in control of them and their circumstances. To inherit the earth means to reign as king over yourself and your circumstances through the power of the Holy Spirit. "A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace" (vv. 10–11).

When you are meek, you seek nothing for yourself, and when you seek nothing for yourself, God gives you all things. Saul's self-seeking cost him his crown, but David's submission gave him the kingdom. Something else is true: Meekness means power under control, and when you can control yourself, everything belongs to you. If you can reign in peace over the kingdom within you, then God will give you all you need in the kingdom without

King Saul never learned meekness because he always tried to scheme his way out of the difficulties of life. Instead of trials bringing out the best in him, they brought out his worst. And he always had an excuse ready whenever Samuel showed up. "An excuse," said Billy Sunday, "is the skin of a reason, stuffed with a lie." People who are good at excuses are rarely good at anything else. But David profited from the trials of life and, in spite of his failures (and we all have them), learned how to be meek. Saul tried to use his own authority to make himself great, but David said to God, "You stoop down to make me great" (Psalm 18:35).

2. Are You Submissive To God's Ways and Timing?

The meek person is never envious of others because of what they have. "Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked" (Psalm 37:16). "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread" (Psalm 37:25).

The great enemy of meekness is impatience. This is why the psalmist admonishes us: "Wait for the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land" (v. 34).

3. Are you Submitted to God's Word?

James 1: 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

 Learn of Him With A Repentant Heart  Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness

Learn of Him With A Receptive Heart and receive with meekness the implanted word,

Learn of Him With A Responsive Heart  which is able to save your souls.

Learn of Him With A Reflective Heart  which is able to save your souls.

 

4. Are you Submitted to God in your temper?

CH SPURGEON wrote  If there should be anybody here who is of an angry spirit, kindly take home these remarks and try to mend that matter, for a Christian must get the better of an angry temper. Little pots soon boil over and I have known some professing Christians who are such very little pots that the smallest fire has made them boil over! When you never meant anything to hurt their feelings, they have been terribly hurt. The simplest remark has been taken as an insult and a construction put upon things that never was intended. And they make their brother offenders for a word, or for half a word, yes, and even for not saying a word! Sometimes if a man does not see them in the street through being short-sighted, they are sure he passed them on purpose and would not speak to them because they are not so well off as he is. Whether a thing is done or is left undone, it equally fails to please them. They are always on the alert for some cause of annoyance and almost remind one of the Irishman at Donnybrook Fair, trailing his coat in the dirt and asking for somebody to tread on it, that he may have the pleasure of knocking that somebody down! When I hear of anybody like that losing his temper, I always pray that he may not find it again, for such tempers are best lost. The meek-spirited man may be naturally very hot and fiery, but he has had Grace given to him to keep his temper in subjection. He does not say, "That is my constitution and I cannot help it," as so many do. God will never excuse us because of our constitution–His Grace is given to us to cure our evil constitutions and to kill our corruptions!

Put these five qualities together and you have the truly meek man–humble, gentle, patient, forgiving and contented–the very opposite of the man who is proud, harsh, angry, revengeful and ambitious. It is only the Grace of God, as it works in us by the Holy Spirit, that can make us thus meek.

 

They inherit the earth that they enjoy what they have.

"but that is not inheriting the earth–it is only inheriting a part of it." Well, it is inheriting as much of it as we need and there is a sense in which the meek do really inherit the whole earth. I have often felt, when I have been in a meek and quiet spirit, as if everything around me belonged to me. I have walked through a gentleman's park and I have been very much obliged to him for keeping it in such order on purpose for me to walk through it!

If trouble should come, you will bow to it as the willow bows to the wind and so escapes the injury that falls upon sturdier trees. If there should come little vexations, you will not allow yourself to be vexed by them, but will say, "With a little patience, they will all pass away." I think I never admired Archbishop Leighton more than when I read a certain incident that is recorded in his life. He lived in a small house in Scotland and had only a manservant beside himself in the house. John, the manservant, was very forgetful and, one morning when he got up before his master, he thought he would like to have a day's fishing, so he went off and locked his master in. He fished until late in the evening, forgot all about his master, and when he came back, what do you think the bishop said to him? He simply said, "John, if you go out for a day's fishing again, kindly leave me the key." He had had a happy day of prayer and study all by himself.