WWUTT 1923 Blessed are the Lowly (Matthew 5:5)

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, or in another translation, blessed are the lowly.

What does it mean to be lowly? Well, our greatest example, of course, is

Christ, when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of God that we may comprehend with all the saints how wide, how high, and how deep is the love of Christ.

Tell all your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Here once again is

Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Sermon on the Mount, we've been in the Beatitudes right at the start of Matthew chapter 5, and we'll pick up where we left off yesterday.

But let's start by reading through those Beatitudes once again. Matthew 5, beginning in verse 3 through verse 10, out of the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. 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 lowly, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see

God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Yesterday, we looked at verse 4. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. And one of the things that I mentioned on Monday is that these

Beatitudes are not new. It's not Jesus making up something new, but he's actually summarizing things that have been said in the

Old Testament. The character of those who are followers of God, who have humbled themselves before the and desire him and his ways.

This is what they look like, and this is what they will receive. That's what we have here in the Beatitudes.

So even with this statement, blessed are those who mourn, when we read the prophecy in Isaiah 61 about the

Messiah who is to come, it is said there three times in the first three verses that he will comfort those who mourn.

Listen to Isaiah 61, beginning in verse 1. The spirit of Lord Yahweh is upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of Yahweh and the day of vengeance of our

God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a headdress instead of ashes, the oil of rejoicing instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting, so that they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may show forth his beautiful glory.

So we read there several times about how Christ comforts those who mourn in the beatitudes.

We go on to verse five where we read, blessed are the lowly for they shall inherit the earth.

Now, when you typically think of this verse, that's probably not the translation that you have in mind.

You don't hear blessed are the lowly. How do you usually hear Matthew five, five blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

Meek and lowly mean the same thing. But what do we mean by these words? Lowly meekness will remember that meekness does not mean weakness.

And I think that's the way that we picture it. You know, just this hunched over unassuming guy doesn't want to get it in anybody's way.

Just kind of keeps to himself. You know, that's a meek guy. It kind of sounds more like a weak guy.

Meekness is not flabbiness. It's not laziness. It's not just kind of chilling out and not trying to assert yourself too much or raise your voice too high.

That's not what meekness is. For Moses in the book of Numbers is said to have been the meekest man on earth at that time.

Now, Moses was writing the law. He's the one that read that or wrote that about himself. But it's divinely inspired.

It came from the Holy Spirit. This is how God would have described Moses as being meek.

And this was the man who was the leader of Israel. So he certainly wasn't someone weak. We wouldn't categorize

Moses that way. So what kind of a man was Moses? Well, I love the helps word study definition of the word meek.

This has been my favorite translation or my favorite definition of this word. It says the following. This difficult to translate root word means more than meek.

Biblical meekness is not weakness, but rather refers to exercising

God's strength under his control, demonstrating power without undue harshness.

What a great definition, especially that part exercising God's strength under his control.

Now, that was certainly Moses, because if you'll remember God addressing Moses from the burning bush and telling him that he was going to send him back to Egypt to tell

Pharaoh, let my people go. How did Moses respond to that? Who am I to do this thing? To go stand in front of Pharaoh and demand of him to let the people of God go?

And how was God in his response to Moses? He said, Moses, it's not about who you are.

It's about who I am. So this was not by Moses strength that he goes strolling into the court of Pharaoh and says, let my people go.

It was God's strength through Moses. So that's certainly a picture of meekness.

You know, before Moses, we had Abraham. Abraham was also a meek man.

Whatever God told him to do, Abraham did it without complaining.

That's another characteristic of somebody who is meek. They believe

God. They trust God. And when he tells us to do something, we don't do it begrudgingly.

We do it with joy. Even when you consider God telling Abraham to sacrifice his only son,

Abraham did not protest. What we have according to Scripture, he didn't even hesitate. He obeyed

God. And he took Isaac to the place that God showed him that he would sacrifice

Isaac. And of course, when Abraham takes the knife, the angel of the Lord appears and stops the knife.

And God provided instead a ram in the thicket that Abraham would sacrifice the ram instead of his son.

The Lord provided. And so that's what they called that place where all of this had happened. They said the

Lord will provide. So Abraham trusted God. He obeyed

God. He did whatever God asked him to and did not complain about it.

That's a picture of meekness, of being lowly. As it says in Philippians 2 .14,

do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you may be children without fault in the midst of a crooked and depraved generation among whom we shine as lights in the world holding fast to the word of life.

That's a call to be lowly, to be meek. And it's also there in Philippians 2 where it says that we are to consider others' needs ahead of our own.

That's also a characteristic of being meek and lowly, that we consider others' needs.

And we do for others, not expecting anything from them in return or not expecting that they can even pay us back.

And that's something else that is characteristic of Moses and the way that he led

Israel. He was not trying to make his name great through this nation that wasn't even a great nation, except that God had chosen them from all other nations on earth.

Moses served the Lord and he interceded on behalf of Israel. How many times did

God get fed up with Israel and he wanted to wipe them out? But Moses interceded on their behalf and God relented from his anger.

There was even at one point where God said, separate yourself from them. I'm going to make you into a great nation.

And I'm going to wipe them out. I mean, how easy would it have been for Moses at that point to go, okay, great, let's go.

Make me into a great nation. But he didn't. He appealed on Israel's behalf before God.

Because Moses is supposed to be a picture of the Christ who is to come. The greater Moses is talked about in the book of Hebrews.

Christ who intercedes for us. So Moses is becoming that picture as he's being sanctified by God in the midst of this.

Israel's disobedience. God saying that he's going to pour out his wrath on them. And Moses interceding for them.

He's demonstrating meekness there. He's putting their needs even ahead of his own.

It's also said of Moses in the book of Hebrews that though he was a ruler in Egypt, he could have been a ruler in Egypt.

But he chose to give up the fleeting pleasures of sin and be associated with his people.

Also a demonstration of meekness. You know who else from the Old Testament I think of when

I think of meekness? You're going to laugh at this one. Okay. This is who I think of when

I think of being meek. Samson. Right.

One of the most arrogant men in the Old Testament. How could I say Samson is a picture of what it means to be lowly?

Well, I'm not talking about the majority of Samson's life as chronicled in the book of Judges. I'm talking about the very end.

Samson, of course, was full of himself and looked out for only himself.

He did not obey God, disobeyed him over and over again. And he didn't even really seem to care for the people of Israel.

He was only out for his own interests. He goes after this

Philistine woman, Delilah. Really takes an interest in her. And this woman was crooked from the start, but Samson, so selfish, he couldn't get a clue.

Until he finally reveals to her his secret of his strength. And it wasn't because of the

Lord. He said it was in his hair. It was really that God was his strength. Samson boasted in himself over and over again.

And did not acknowledge that God was the one who gave him his incredible superhuman strength.

But once he tells Delilah it's in his hair, she accepts money from the Philistines, has his hair cut, and Samson wakes up not realizing that the

Spirit of the Lord has left him. The real source of his strength was gone. And so his eyes were gouged out by the

Philistines, and he was forced to grind at the mill. And then he would even become the

Philistines' entertainment. They would mock at him. They would jeer at him whenever they would have their celebrations. He was like their clown, their jester.

And they would have fun at his expense. But it was in that process, it was in that time of humility, of great humility, that Samson learned to be lowly.

And he acknowledged at the end of his life that his strength did not come from himself. It came from God.

And so he asked God that he would give him just a little bit more strength so that Samson could be avenged on his enemies.

And he brought the house down, literally killing thousands of Philistines, but Samson himself would also die in the process.

But it's there at the very end. He acknowledged he had no strength to speak of. His strength came from the

Lord. And finally, when he learned what it meant to be lowly, God gave him his strength again.

One last time. That's a picture of meekness. He had to go through a pretty hard lesson in order to learn that.

May we not have to learn that lesson as hard as Samson had to learn it.

Of course, the greatest picture of meekness for us in the Bible is going to be Jesus. As we sometimes refer to Jesus in his earthly ministry,

Jesus who is lowly, meek, and mild. That is certainly Christ, as said of him in 1

Peter 2, beginning in verse 21. For to this you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps, who did no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth, who being reviled was not reviling in return, while suffering he was not uttering threats, but he kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that having died to sin, we might live to righteousness.

By his wounds you were healed, for you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

Here in Matthew 5 is not the only place where that word lowly is used. It comes up again in Matthew 11, where Jesus says of himself,

Come to me, all you who are burdened and weary laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.

So Jesus even describing himself as being lowly, which we'll get to again later on in Matthew.

Now consider what we receive, we who are to be lowly. We consider others' needs ahead of our own.

We don't complain against God. We obey God. We don't try to take matters into our own hands. We rely on his strength.

We know that the Lord is in control over all things and we can rest in that. We have confidence in that.

What do we receive for being lowly, for being meek? It's said in the rest of verse 5,

They shall inherit the earth. And again, this also comes from the

Old Testament. Another way to more literally translate this in Matthew 5 .5,

Not that they will inherit the earth, but they will inherit the land. And that's something that we see over and over again in the

Old Testament, especially in the Psalms, where the wicked will perish from the land, but the righteous will receive the land.

Listen to Psalm 37, verse 21, The wicked borrows and does not pay back, but the righteous is gracious and gives.

For those blessed by him will inherit the land, but those cursed by him will be cut off.

We also consider this said about the saints in Daniel's vision of the

Almighty in Daniel chapter 7. It says in verse 27, Then the reign, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest one.

His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom and all the dominions will serve and obey him.

So get that. We who are in Christ Jesus will receive all of the kingdoms.

The dominion, the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest one.

The meek shall inherit the earth. And we also read this in Isaiah chapter 60, verse 21.

Then all your people will be righteous. They will possess the land forever. The branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may show forth my beautiful glory.

We receive the earth. We inherit the earth to show off God's glory.

How incredible is that? Blessed are those who are lowly. Blessed are the lowly.

For they shall inherit the earth. We literally inherit the earth. Like we'll get everything.

We're not on this earth to try to make much of ourselves. We're not trying to store up our possessions.

We're not trying to expand our territory. We do all things for the glory of his name and we consider others needs ahead of our own.

Even giving up what we have for the benefit of others. And what do we receive as a result of that?

Everything. We give up everything, we receive everything. We will inherit the earth. So we are not trying to make the earth our dominion on this side of heaven.

We receive all of that on the other side of heaven. When we enter into glory in the new heavens and new earth, all things will be given to us.

Everything that belongs to the son will also belong to us. For as it said in Titus 3, 5, we become fellow heirs with Christ Jesus in his eternal kingdom.

Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. He who was enthroned in heaven, put on flesh and dwelt among us, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for us, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God.

All that Jesus did in his earthly ministry was not for a personal gain on earth.

He was not building up riches and fame while he was in his earthly ministry.

He did all things for the father, to the praise of his glorious grace, to the glory of God the father, as said in Philippians 2, 11.

Jesus did all of this for God's glory. So may we, likewise, not be out to try to make ourselves great, but God's name great in the earth.

Following the pattern, the example of Christ that we have for meekness, so that we may understand and live by this maxim, blessed are those who are lowly, for they shall inherit the earth.

Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read here. Teach us more what this means to be meek and to be lowly.

Not trying to dominate, assert our strength over other people, but our strength comes not from ourselves.

We rely upon the Lord for our strength. May the joy of the Lord be our strength.

We have a measured strength that is in subjection to God.

And so in all things, Lord, we serve you and we serve one another to the praise of your great name.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.