The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached III

The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached III
Matthew 5-7

(Commentary by Guy Glass and Scott Hescht)

Matthew 5:5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

Guy: As we've seen earlier, the word translated blessed means happy. Here in verse five, we read that the meek are happy. I want to point out that the Greek word "praeis", when it is used elsewhere in the New Testament, is translated as gentle. So we read, "Happy are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth."

What does it mean to be gentle? So often, gentleness is perceived as weakness. Gentleness, however, is far from weakness. Weakness is the opposite of strength. Gentleness is "controlled strength." If one would be seen as possessing power if they are strong rather than weak, then one should be seen as having more power if they walk in gentleness rather than demonstrating their strength.

In Galatians 5:22-24, Paul writes, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." This passage sums up Jesus' sentiment in verse five of His sermon.

What comes naturally to mankind is to be proud, to think highly of ourselves, to come to our own defense, to want to be treated "right" by others. We want to have things; a nice home and a nice car and friends that think we are witty and smart. We want success in business, in our finances; we want to be confident, assured of ourselves, go getters. We believe we deserve respect and if you treat me in a way that is not up to my level you're going to hear about it because I deserve better. These, however, are fleshly desires.

Jesus, in preaching the Sermon on the Mount, was speaking to His disciples - those who belong to Christ. So, as Paul said to the Galatians, if you are Christ's, then you must lay all of those fleshly desires aside, make a practice of self control, and walk in gentleness and meekness. Matthew Henry says of the meek:

The meek are gentle towards all men (Tit. 3:2), can bear provocation without being inflamed by it; are either silent, or return a soft answer; and can show their displeasure without being transported into any indecencies; who can be cool when others are hot; and in their patience keep possession of their own souls, when they can scarcely keep possession of any thing else. They are the meek, who are rarely and hardly provoked, but quickly and easily pacified; and who would rather forgive twenty injuries than revenge one.[1]

So why are the meek blessed or the gentle happy? On one hand, this spiritual discipline, of walking in gentleness, allows a developing Christian to live in peace with others. If we are not always being offended when our pride is injured; if we are not always at odds with others, or having words with our spouse or our parent or our boss when our high estimation of our self is brought low; if we are, rather than looking out for our own benefit, looking out for the benefit of others, esteeming others as more important than ourselves, we will have peace with others, peace of mind and we will share in the attitude of Christ.
On the other hand, we have a promise. Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." The earth will be ours. It seems, in our world, that the earth belongs to the rich and the arrogant - those that are seeking their own gain and not walking in gentleness. Their claim to the earth, however, is short lived. Psalm 73 tells how God has set them in slippery places and as soon as they slip down into the grave, their successes and possession of earthly things ends.

In Psalm 37:11, King David refers to God's people inheriting the land. Just as the Israelites inherited a land of promise and found rest, Christians also will inherit the whole earth and find eternal rest. Second Timothy 2 says, "If we suffer, we will also reign with Him." Romans 8 promises that, "if we are God's children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." We have a new earth to look forward to in which righteousness dwells.

Jesus calls each of us to walk in gentleness in Matthew 11:29, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

[1] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (USA: Hendrickson Publishers 1991), 1,629.