Lesson 3: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth”

To recap, the last two parts of the Beatitudes spoke of the realization of our need for a Savior because we have absolutely nothing to offer before God to appease His rightful wrath. This is due to our sins that separated us from God as in His nature He cannot co-exist with sin. While the first command by Jesus, “Bless are the poor in spirit” spoke of our deepest need for a Savior and in turn humility, the second command, “Blessed are they that mourn” is in nutshell, a response to our utter hopelessness outside of Christ. One may also say that it is to mourn over sinful nature of ourselves as well as others that causes us to mourn. It is to survey his/her own heart and say, “Woe is me! What a wretched man I am!” as to get a deeper and more realistic realization of how sinful our hearts are before God.

Now we turn to the third command by Christ, the meekness. So what is meekness? Before exploring that, we should discover what meekness isn’t. It is not prideful or related to a natural quality of mankind. In other words, it’s innate or something that is inherent to natural man. Nor does it mean being nice as I prone to think. It does not also mean “weakness in personality or character.” MLJ says that it doesn’t mean “a spirit of compromise or ‘peace at any price.’ We know this to be true as nowhere in the Bible says, “Blessed are the ones who are peacekeepers.”

Sonship (http://www.whm.org/grow/sonship) speaks briefly about this topic. One topic was about being peacekeeper vs. peacemakers. I confess that prior to that lesson, I couldn’t make a clear distinction between peacemaker and peacekeeper. I just thought as long as there is ‘peace,’ everything must be fine and God is happy with it. The dangerous part of that thought process is the driving force behind peacekeeping. Why? Because often times, I would try to be the mediator or be passive for the sake of avoiding potential conflicts due to fear of men. But sometimes more than that, defending my reputation which I considered more important than the love of Christ or the opportunity of repentance and faith in Christ. Yet this is still and will always be a daily battle for me on earth. Nevertheless, the hearts of peacekeepers are unbelief and often self-righteousness as they rarely see the magnitude of their own sins and yet so quickly see other’s flaws:

(Luke 6:42)

How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

But what’s more saddening about peacekeepers is that it often results in alienation to others and God, because of the overwhelming desire to self-protect their reputation. So how are peacemakers different? That is to be explored later but in a nutshell, it is to humbly and willingly to be trustful and honest and “to boldly pursue others for their reconciliation with God and ourselves.” So it is also the desire for sanctification of self and others. The goal for them is ultimately God’s glory and other person’s good. So again, it’s self-centeredness vs. God-centeredness.

Now going back to what IS meekness, MLJ says it is “essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in attitude and conduct with respect to others.” So it requires two main things:

1) My attitude towards myself

2) Expression of that in my relationship to others.

So how does my attitude towards self-look like? We already spoke of “Being poor in spirit.” Thus, a “man can never be meek unless he is poor in spirit. A man can never be meek unless he has seen himself as a vile sinner.” MLJ urges that there must be ABSENCE of pride since it would be contradictory to have pride and to be meek. It also means, “he does not assert himself” like being nice or friendly or warm that may be related to one’s personality rather than from the Spirit. For example, one can be more prone to be nicer than others in subjective sense but this does not determine meekness. Lastly, MLJ states that truly meek also means “we no longer protect ourselves (from what others think of us), because we see there is nothing worth defending.”

Wow. We need to pulse here. Can you really say that about yourself? Can you honestly confess that you really are not that important or worth defending? From Biblical sense it’s pretty clear isn’t it?

“When a man truly sees himself, he knows nobody can say anything about him that is too bad…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.”

So if one understands that there is nothing inherently valuable of himself, then inevitably his heart will be teachable and readily available to learn from a higher being, namely our God Jesus Christ. MLJ references the ideal model who is ultimately and always Christ. He does in reference to 1^st Peter chapter 2. It is to follow God’s step even when we are unjustly accused or wronged. More specifically see verses 18-25.

Once we are able to see that we are completely nothing on our own but are saved by God’s grace alone, then we are able to take heed to other people’s corrections, rebuke, or encouragements rather than being offended and playing defensive tackle. That is the gist of the expression of the relationships in a Gospel centered community that understands grace and expresses itself in love because it is readily available to serve and encourage each other and learn, and considers others better themselves. Thus, HUMILTY and MEEKNESS!

Lastly, the “meek already inherit the earth in this life…A man who is truly meek is a man who is always satisfied, he is a man who is already CONTENT.”

Because if a person has the best thing in the whole world why would he be discontent? Yet this is a daily battle and not a one-time event. The Spirit of God and never produced by a natural man, also solely drives it. Even a monk cannot make himself truly meek that satisfies God unless the Gospel, namely the Triune God, transforms him.

Someone once said, “we are far worse than we really think” when surveying our hearts. This is not to condemn ourselves but rather to strive for “poor in spirit.”

So I leave you with some application questions:

1) How do you view yourself before man?

2) How do you view yourself before God and His infinite holiness?

3) Are there things in your life that hinders you from being truly meek? If so, how are they dealt with? Do you preach the Gospel to yourself daily?

4) Is your goal in life ultimately serving yourself with keeping-up with your reputation or yearning for God’s glory for your lasting joy?

5) How do you receive criticisms from others? Do you fear other’s rejection of you if you would share your deepest struggles or sins?

6) Are you content and fully satisfied with God? If not, why not? If so, do you pray and reflect on the wrath and justice of God laid on Cross of Christ?

Lesson 2: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted

In continuation of the Beatitudes, we will go over the second statement by Christ, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

To recap, in order to be ‘poor in spirit’ means simply deny oneself from self-centeredness and self-dependent attitudes primary in the presence of God. One cannot do this by his/her own volition or self-will because God initiates it – much like our worship and salvation and God’s election. We also discussed that it’s not about literally being poor or giving false impression that you are humble before God.

So we turn to the second statement. MLJ states that this type of ‘mourning’ is entirely spiritual, therefore, it’s not so much the sadness of natural mankind just as “poverty of spirit” isn’t something that is related to financial matters. So why would anyone would want to mourn? And to what?

MLJ states that we “have to be poor in spirit before we can be filled with the Holy Spirit” Remember, emphasizing the negative or the bad news before intake of the good news. But here conviction precedes conversion where there is a “real sense of sin” that must come before “true joy of salvation.” But one must inevitably look the doctrine of sin seriously and copiously. So to mourn is “something that follows of necessity from being ‘poor in spirit’…As I confront God and His holiness, and contemplate the life that I am meant to live, I see myself, my utter helplessness and hopelessness. I must mourn about the fact that I am like that…A man who truly faces himself, and examines himself and his life, is a man who must necessity mourn for his sins also…” So it is to mourn over sin in reflection of self since we are terribly tainted with sinful nature before God, and we join with Isaiah saying, “woe is me!” as well as Apostle Paul who rhetorically says, “O wretch man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24).

Additionally, a man who truly mourns also grieves because of “sins of others.” Such man/woman is “concerned about the state of society, and the state of the world, and as he (and she) reads newspaper he/she does not stop at what he/she sees or simply express disgust at it…” They mourn because they go beyond self-evaluation AND “mourns over the state of the whole world as he/she sees the moral muddle and unhappiness and suffering of mankind, and reads of wars and rumours of wars.” But most importantly, they mourn because they “know that it is all due to sin…”

Let’s stop here and reflect. This is a tough material to digest because it convicts me of ignorance to sins and the lack of “mourning” over the sins of others around me. I realize that for me, to mourn is not about venting or complaining over my tough and unlikable patients or difficult schedule for the day. It’s not even a matter of feeling sorry for myself because I’ve been wronged by others. Rather, it should be the deep realization of the effect my sinful nature and fallen world that once separated me from the Father God. Also, the effect of sin in this world that brings so much unhappiness and false joy that even the Joel Osteens of the world would inevitably lose hope in the face of sins around them.

However, this does not mean that we should remain in that state of mourning to falsely believe that would draw closer to God or we have inherent ability to fight sin through our act of mourning. We shall see later that the bad news is replaced by good news.

So what do we do? How can we mourn in the light of the Gospel? How does one really ‘mourn’ in the spirit and be comforted? The answer is really to reflect on the our Lord, Jesus Christ. He has mourned over the sins of this world while living on earth 2000 years ago and He still does now. The famous verses from Isaiah 53 paints a picture of our God – “the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He wept over our sins because he has understood what sin meant to God and of God’s utter abhorrence and hatred of it, “this terrible thing that would stab, as it were, into the heart of God, if it could, this rebelliousness and arrogance of man, the result of listening to Satan. It grieves him and he mourns because of it…” Jesus mourns because it affects directly to the Father’s heart, and therefore His heart. It grieves him most severely, enough so that Jesus had to be completely separated from the perfect, I mean PERFECT relationship with the Father on the Calvary. Sin is that serious and deadly in view of God.

So who does that look like practically? MLJ encourages us that someone who mourns is someone who is going to repent regularly as result of the work of the Holy Spirit upon him/her. But that great sorrow eventually leading to great joy! But without great sorrow, there would not be great joy. We have that joy as Christians because our sins are forgiven and that joy of reconciliation (as we heard from past Sunday’s sermon) “knowing that God takes us back when we have fallen away from Him; the joy and contemplation of the glory that is set before us; the joy that comes from anticipation of the eternal state.” This is why someone who mourns is truly comforted because of that covenantal promise by God, that we are no longer a slave but a Son and an heir of God! (Galatians 4:4-7).

MLJ does list those application questions but here are just few to start:

1. Are you mourning over your sins?
2. How about mourning over other people’s sins and sins of this world?
3. Do you repent regularly in the light of the Gospel AND experiencing JOY?
4. Is there any particular sins in your life that you have not repented of because of fear of rejection by God?
5. Do you joy in the Cross and look forward to experiencing Sonship? If not why not?
   
   

Lession 1: Blessed are the poor in spirit

(WARNING/DISCLOSURE: There will be some (or many!) grammatical mistakes within the content of this site. I apologize in advance for my inadequacy in my writing ability and undisciplined action to correct it. I will try my best to convey the message as clearly as I possible can)

The first statement of the Beatitudes starts with “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’

Before I discuss the importance of this first statement, MLJ points to the readers that understanding the Good News of the Gospel necessitates digesting the BAD news, which is our sinful state before God. We hear this fairly often in our Christian community; that if the bad news isn’t all that bad, then the Good News which is the work of Christ on earth and death on the Cross and resurrection and having eternal fellowship with the Father is not all the great either. So if our view of sin were small, then inevitability our view of God would also be small.

MLJ states “it is an essential part of the gospel that conviction must always precede conversion; the gospel of Christ condemns before it releases.” Remember, the Good News is offensive and defensive. First, it is offensive because it exposes our sins and our true state of our weakness in the flesh. Who would happy to volunteer in front of thousands of people and say, “I’m a great great sinner because I did XYZ…” Our sinful nature does not want to admit to our weakness, let alone our sins. But it is also defensive to us because we as Christians do not have to bear the wrath of God since Christ did that on the Cross. But I would say it’s much more than defensive because we have the Righteousness of Christ, which freely allows us to have fellowship the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. But the point here is that there is a sense of confession to the ‘poor in spirit’ as though one who utter those words cannot save him/herself from the presence of Holy and perfect God.

However, before I keep going with what ‘poor in spirit’ may indicate for believers, let’s first discuss what it DOES not mean.

It does not mean that we must strive to be literally poor. The Lord did not say, “blessed be ye poor” nor the Bible states that poverty is a good thing. We must understand that poor man is not anymore closer to God than the rich man. MLJ says, “there is no merit or advantage in being poor” and “poverty does not guarantee spirituality.” We see this in many of the poor countries (i.e. S. Africa). If that were the case than North Korea would be flourished with vibrant spiritual life. Thus, it does not mean to be the literal sense but rather “poverty in spirit.” In nutshell, MKJ says, “it is ultimately a man’s attitude towards himself.” There are two general ways to look at one’s self. One, from the worldly perspective, she/he can believe in themselves, trust in their own powers, works and even overcoming sins all before the Lord. We hear these phrases a lot: “try harder,” “you can do it”, “trust in your heart or yourself,” “it’s in your heart that all that matters,” etc. Essentially, it is the man’s (and woman’s) innate will power and its dependency to ignore his/her total depraved nature before the Lord on this earth. But more than that, it is to say in front of God, “hey God, I can trust my own abilities to be good and overcome this sin and I have no need for you!”

Now, the other way of seeing this is through humility. It is say, I’m a “vile and full of sin!” MLJ gave several examples from the Scripture. For example, Isaiah got a glimpse of the Lord and his response was “woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips.” There was a sense of absolute inadequacy in his heart as he realized how holy and pure God is and how far and sinful and wretched his heart was in comparison! Humility was his initial response. But more than that, Isaiah’s utter hopeless in his ability to save himself from God. Yes, there was no way to save himself from the Holy God because sin cannot co-exist with God. So what does God do? He sends seraphim to touch his lip and remove Isaiah’s guilt away, as his sin was atoned for.

MLJ tells it how it really is. Also being poor in spirit does not mean that we beat ourselves up as though we walk around like zombies nor “falsely crucify yourself or assume another character and personality in life.” I think of the Pharisees who were fasting and making sure that the public knew about it. It also does not mean that we put ourselves down with “false” humility. This is tricky because it could go very subtle. I don’t time to go on details but this is something that I have struggled (and still struggling) with it. Lastly but not least, it does not mean that we become people with certain personality that is well liked by people or appear to be popular. A nice person does not make him/her to be humble and therefore, “poor in spirit.” MLJ gave a great example in the Bible; namely Peter who was “naturally aggressive, self-assertive and self-confident.” While those were nevertheless traits of “a typical modern man of the world,” he still remained bold for the Gospel. Thus, his Peter-like personality did not change but his attitude toward God did. I mean, look at Apostle Paul. He was a stud in the eyes of the world yet after his conversion, his confidence was in Christ and he still remained bold and just as intense (if not more) for the Gospel! Yet, “he felt insufficient because he was ‘poor in spirit.’ Nuff said.

So, what does it really mean by ‘poor in spirit?” It is “a complete absence of pride, a complete absence of self-assurance and of self-reliance. It means a consciousness that we are nothing in the presence of God. It is nothing, then that we can produce; it is nothing that we can do in ourselves. It is just this tremendous awareness of our utter nothingness as we come face to face with God.”

It’s saying this to yourself (and genuinely meaning it, quote by Jeremiah Burroughs)

“Lord I am nothing. Lord, I deserve nothing, Lord, I can do nothing, I can receive nothing, and can make use of nothing, I am worse than nothing, and if I come to nothing and perish I will be no loss at all, and therefore is it such a great thing for me to be cut short here?”

So the natural man/woman cannot do this without the Lord’s initiative. One cannot make himself ‘poor in spirit,’ unless God is convicting him/her of such great inadequacy of self before God. That is mercy!

So how does not become ‘poor in spirit?’ MLJ says, “you do not look at yourself or being by trying to do thing to yourself. The answer is to look at God, read His Word, (Bible) and ultimately the Cross of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Finally, MLJ leaves us with few application questions for you and I.

• Am I like that, am I poor in spirit?
• How do I really feel about myself as I think of myself in terms of God and in the presence of God?
• And as I live my life, what are the things I am saying, what are the things I am praying about, what are the things I like to think of with regard to myself?

Introduction: The Beatitudes Matthew 5:3-16

This is the first chapter of Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn L-Jones. While I will not be attempting to systematically analyze the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11) (because DML-Jones had already done a great job of it) but I will merely share some of key and insightful work that really speaks of the Gospel and how we shall live despite our sins and His glorious attributes and character in Jesus Christ.

Before I dive in to the text, there are few things that we must consider.

FIRST, DML-Jones encourages the reader to look at the importance of the order in the Beatitudes. More specifically, he warns us not take one statement and ignores other(s) since they are (as we shall see) all interlinked and depend on each characteristic which also implies another.

SECOND, the Beatitudes are written specifically for born-again Christians and it would be impossible for a non-believer to practice or live out these statements made by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.

THIRD, because it is addressed to the Christians, it must be concerned with his/her relationship to the Father. It relates to how a Christian would live in the presence of God.

FORTH, it is important to note “Sermon on the Mount is a description of character and not a code of ethics or of morals.” Thus, it is NOT bunch of new rules or refined 10 commandments but rather a truthful descriptor of how a Christian meant to look in the light of the Gospel. Hence, it deals with his/her characteristics in Christ our Lord. This also includes the attitude and the “general principle” of such believer – which is to be more like Christ Himself.

FIFTH, the Beatitudes does not only pertain to just super-duper Christians or pastors or elders, but to EVERY Christian. One does not get a Beatitude-exempt pass just because he/she is not a full-time ministry worker.

SIXTH, “all Christians are meant to manifest all of these characteristics.” Yes, all of them. Stop for a minute and ponder that statement. All Christians are meant to live this out. Does it sound like a huge burden to you? If so, I’m with you there. But remember the Beatitudes were not meant for us to simply obey with our man-centered strengths as though they are some sorts of law as I mentioned above (this will be expounded in later time), but rather it must always be centered in the Gospel (as we shall see soon). Thus, the key thing is that these characteristics are not our “natural” tendencies; therefore, not something that our sinful flesh (apart from Christ) would ever produce or present. “Each one of them is wholly a disposition which is produced by grace alone and the operation of the Holy Spirit upon us.” So this leads us to truly explore and dichotomize between two different life-styles; one with Christ and one without Christ. But more than that, it challenges us to grow and enjoy our new born again life in Christ Jesus!

I will go over the first statement of Beatitudes in few days:

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

What I hope to get out of this series is not just some theological discussions for the sake of knowledge but the application of the Word in our hearts and transforming into our lives! You can either participate by asking questions or comments. If you don’t have the book and would like to purchase one, you can find one here:

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=0036&event=CFN

only like 12 bucks.

I hope that it would encourage us to draw closer to Christ rather than beating yourself up because you don’t have these traits. Remember, all of us have fallen well short of the glory of God, but Christ has claimed us to be our prefer righteousness! Let us celebrate that truth!