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HAPPINESS THE JESUS WAY

HAPPINESS THE JESUS WAY

By Pastor Glenn Pease

 

CONTENTS

 

1. WHAT IS HAPPINESS? Based on Matt. 5:1-12 and Phil. 4:10-13

2. PROSPERITY IN POVERTY Based on Matt. 5:3

3. HAPPINESS IN SORROW Based on Matt. 5:4

4. THE MIGHTY MEEK Based on Matt. 5:5

5. HAPPINESS THROUGH HUNGER Based on Matt. 5:6

6. HAPPY ARE THE MERCIFUL Based on Matt. 5:7

7. THE HEART OF HAPPINESS Based on Matt. 5:8

8. FIGHTERS FOR PEACE Based on Matt. 5:9

9. THE BURDEN OF THE CROSS Based on Matt. 5:10-12

10. HAPPY NEW YEAR Based on Matt. 5:1-12

 

 

 

 

 

1. WHAT IS HAPPINESS? Based on Matt. 5:1-12 and Phil. 4:10-13

Epictetus, the ancienct philosopher said, "If a man is unhappy, this must be his own fault, for God made all men to be happy." A Christian writer, St. Bernard, said something similar. "Nothing can work me damage except myself; the harm that I sustain I carry about with me, and never am a real sufferer but by my own fault." These two men represent the internal philosophy of happiness. External mean nothing, and need have no effect upon the happiness of a person, is their view.

External evil is recognized as a reality, but one does not need to let it penetrate his inner being. Epictetus, for example, said, "I must die, but must I die sorrowing? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Can I be prevented from going with cheerfulness and contentment? But I will put you in prison. Man, what are you saying? You may put my body in prison, but my mind not even Zeus himself can overpower." Here is a rare example of how even a pagan slave can, by the power of positive thinking, demonstrate the human capacity for internal happiness without the externals usually associated with happiness.

The facts of life and history show that this is possible, but it is also highly improbable that more than a few rare individuals can completely ignore the externals of life. The vast majority of people depend upon externals almost exclusively. They grasp at things as the only source of satisfaction. People really believe that more money can bring happiness in spite of the fact that the suicide rate is higher among the haves than among the have nots. Abdalrahman the Khalif had thousands of wives, and millions upon millions of wealth, but this is what he wrote near the end of his life: "I have now reigned above 50 years in victory or peace. I have been beloved of my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honor, power and pleasure have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: They amount to fourteen."

No amount of eternals can guarantee happiness, yet man's natural tendency is to search for happiness in that direction. Men have a hard time believing that there is any hope of happiness apart from externals. Aristotle represented the Greek view when he said that the blessed life was impossible to the diseased, the poor, and the slave. Samuel Johnson had a close friend who said that his sister-in-law was really a happy woman. This made Johnson mad, and he replied like the brute he could be, "If your sister-in-law is really the contented being she professes herself, sir, her life gives the lie to every research to humanity; for she is happy, without health, without beauty, without money, and without understanding." He went away growling, "I tell you the woman is ugly, and sickly, and foolish and poor, and would it not make a man hang himself to hear such a creature say she was happy?" The very idea of being happy without the values so treasured by his materialistic heart made him angry. It does not seem fair to the secularist who has struggled for all the externals of wealth, power, and fame to see people who are happy who have not made the struggle.

Paul would have made him angry by his words in Phil. 4:11-12. Paul said, "...For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Paul's happiness was not dependent upon what happened, or what he had. This means that Paul's happiness was internal. Paul did not have control over the externals of his life, but like everybody else does, he had control over how he would react to life internally.

If it is only going to be a happy new year for us if we get more stuff, and all goes well, then we are living on a different level than Paul was on. This does not mean we should not get more stuff, and that we should not strive to make all go well. Paul advised Christians to live peaceably with all men, and to prevent all the negatives of life that they can. But if this is your only level of happiness you are too controlled by the externals, and changes can quickly rob you of your joy in Christ. We need to see the externals as fringe benefits, and not the base salary of the Christian life. The foundation is to be internal and attitudinal rather than external and material. Jesus and Paul agree here completely. Happiness does not depend on what happens, but on how you face all that happens. Jesus is saying in the beatitudes that you can be happy even if you are experiencing many negative externals.

At this point we need to take a detour off the main road to deal with the problem that Christians have with reconciling being happy and miserable at the same time. One of the major problems the Christian has in the pursuit of happiness is the sense of failure that comes due to times of depression and other unhappy feelings. Many feel guilty for not being happy in the Lord. Their unhappiness is magnified by their guilt. They say, "I know I should be happy, but I just can't seem to feel the joy of the Lord." The first thing we need to do is clarify the Christians right to be miserable on a variety of levels. Jesus wept because of people's rejection of God's grace. This makes it clear that the Christian has every right to be unhappy over lost people. If a Christian feels guilty about being sad over this lost world, he is feeling guilty for being Christlike, for Jesus wept over this same thing.

Jesus also wept over the sorrow of death and the lose of a loved one. He was very unhappy also with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and the injustice of man to man. He felt rotten about the way the temple was being used to rip off the poor, and how widows were being taken advantage of, and their houses being taken from them. Add up all the unhappy feelings of Jesus over the fallen nature of man, and you have a host of legitimate reasons to be unhappy as a Christian. In fact, it is unchristian if you are never sad and unhappy about a fallen and lost world.

There are legitimate reasons to be unhappy, and it is folly to feel guilty for them. We could list all of Paul's negative emotions as well, but it is not necessary, for if our Lord had good reason to be unhappy with much of life, who can be so presumptuous to expect to live on a higher emotional level then Him? Anyone who expects to be feeling happy all the time is trying to live in a world that does not yet exist. The only way to get there in the present is by insanity and the loss of touch with reality. Some unhappiness is just part of the price we pay for living in a fallen world. We have to get it out of our head that Christian happiness means freedom from all care. It that is the case, the average cow is happier than the average Christian. It was because Paul cared so much for the churches that he went through so many negative emotions of frustration and anxiety.

What we are dealing with here is a paradox. It is the reality of being able to be miserable and happy at the same time. Paul was often miserable over the problems in the church, and yet he had an inner sense of well being that made him happy. This means that Christian happiness is not always and emotion. One might be dominated by the weeping with those who weep, and so they would feel sad at that point. This does not rob them of contentment. Paul did not have the same emotion when he was feasting with his friends as he had when he was in the dungeon starving and alone. Paul is not saying that one is just the same as the other. He would have to be a pet rock to be in such a state.

Paul had all kinds of emotions, just as Jesus did, but his point is that he had an attitude of contentment within regardless of his emotions. When he said that Demas had forsaken him he was feeling bad about it. He was not indifferent to circumstances and saying its all fine with him regardless of what was happening.

But even when he felt bad about circumstances, he still had his contentment in Christ which circumstances could not change. This calls for great discipline to be truly happy on this level. We get a glimpse into the depth of what it means to be Christlike by looking at this inner contentment of Paul. Look at the reasons for why we are so often discontented in life.

1. Selfishness. We want things to be our way and good for us. When they are not we are discontent. We will all have some unhappiness because we always want to get our own way.

2. Envy. This makes us discontent because we see the possessions and gifts of others almost as if they were stolen from us, and we resent it, and so feel unhappy.

3. Covetousness. We have a strong desire for more than we now have, and this robs us of the enjoyment of what we do have. No matter how much we get it is never enough, for there is so much more to covet. There is always an emptiness that can never be fully filled because we covet more.

Paul was happy because he did not have to wrestle with these vices. He had conquered them, and so he was content with his life. A happy life does depend on our conquering all the temptations of life that fill us with discontent. This means that it is hard work to be happy, for you have to die to self and all that the world appeals to in us.

It is important for us to be aware that almost everything that people do is because they believe it will lead to happiness. The Prodigal Son did not take his money and go off to live in the pleasure of sin with any other motive than the desire to be happy. Men just do not pursue evil for evil's sake. Few if any could care less about pleasing Satan. All they want is happiness for themselves. Men chose the path that leads to misery only because they are convinced it leads to happiness. Sin would have nothing to offer man if it did not hold out the deceptive offer of happiness.

Satan competes for the souls of men by offering and imitation of everything God offers for man's true happiness. From the start this was the case. The first temptation was an offer of greater happiness by eating the forbidden fruit. Satan is constantly trying to under sell God, and he offers to men what he claims is greater happiness at less cost. What the sinner fails to think of is that it is God who does the ultimate billing, and the cost of Satan's happiness is eternal unhappiness. No one who really knew the whole story could purchase temporary happiness at such a cost, but Satan is the master deceiver. It is the purpose of the Christian to distinguish between the false happiness of Satan, and the true happiness of God, and then demonstrate its superiority in life to enlighten men. This is part of what being the light of the world means.

A college girl told me that non-Christian kids on campus think that the Christians are dull and boring. A cab driver said he didn't like church conventions coming to town because Christians come with the Ten Commandments and a ten dollar bill, and they don't break either of them. His concept of happiness was the pleasure of sin and the spending of money. The Christian cannot please men on that level, but Christians ought to make it clear that it is a joy to be a Christian. The world should be impressed with Christian happiness. When the non-Christian says we are all seeking the same thing, we should agree, but be able to show him that the happiness the Christian finds in Christ is of a much better quality.

The problem in doing this is simply that Christians have not given enough thought to what happiness really is, and so they are on the same level with the world in their search for it in many different directions. Man is a complex being, and every desire, and every different kind of disposition leads to a different theory of happiness. The ancient writer Cicero said that in his day there were 20 rival opinions concerning the source of true happiness. Varro was able to enumerate 280 such opinions. There are probably more opinions on the way to happiness than on any other subject, and the problem is that there is some truth to every one of them. Happiness has a thousand faces to match the diversity of personalities, gifts, and natures. The poetess Priscilla Leonard wrote,

Happiness is like a crystal, Fair and exquisite and clear,

Broken in a million pieces, Shattered, scattered far and near,

Now and then along life's pathway, Lo! Some shining fragments fall;

But there are so many pieces, No one ever finds them all.

You may find a bit of beauty, Or an honest share of wealth,

While another just beside you, Gathers honor, love or health.

Vain to choose or grasp unduly, Broken is the perfect ball;

And there are so many pieces, No one ever finds them all.

Yet the wise as on they journey Treasure every fragment clear,

Fit them as they may together, Imaging the shattered sphere.

Learning ever to be thankful, Though their share of it is small;

For it has so many pieces, No one ever finds them all.

There is no doubt that she has in this poem expounded a basic truth which the Scriptures support. Being a Christian, and receiving God's best, which is salvation through Jesus Christ does not supply one with every kind of happiness. The Bible makes it clear that there are different gifts, and different degrees of talent among Christians. There is probably no Christian who has ever had everything that can be had to increase their usefulness and happiness. If we could be happier with a gain of anything either internal or external, we are not yet in possession of perfect happiness. Complete happiness is impossible, therefore, in this life. That is what heaven is all about. Even Jesus knew sorrow, pain, and grief in His human life, and, therefore, the Christian goal for this life is never absolute happiness at any price.

The Christian must recognize the limits of the happiness that can rightly be theirs in God's will. Sometimes God's will requires us to be unhappy, and this then brings us back to where we begin, and that is that Christian happiness is basically internal, and it is in the character of the Christian. Someone said, "Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling." The blessedness Jesus speaks of in the beatitudes is an internal attitude which completely contradicts the expected response to the external facts. The direction of Christian happiness is within rather than external, but because many pagans have also found this to be the best source of happiness, the Christian view cannot be that only. Therefore, Pascal says, "Happiness is neither without nor within us, it is in God, both without us and within us."

This sounds like a circular argument that says it is neither, and also both. It does say this, but so as to lift the subject of happiness out of the realm where man is the center to where God is the center. This is where the Christian view of happiness becomes distinct. In the pagan view even their gods are means to human happiness. In the Christian view happiness for man is not an end in itself, but is a means to the glory of God. In Christian theology man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Glorifying and enjoying God is the highest happiness man can attain. Man's happiness, therefore, is only uniquely Christian and Christlike when God receives the glory.

There is never any doubt when you examine the life of Christ as to who is the center of His life. In His prayer He taught us to say, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." God was the center of His life, the source of His power, and the end of all His acts. We very subtly are lead into a sub-Christian view of life when we make God a means to fulfilling our own ends. The very study of, and longing for, happiness can lead us in this direction, and, therefore, we must ever keep in mind that the essence of Christian happiness is in making God and His glory the end of all we are and all we do.

Ernest M. Ligon in The Psychology of Christian Personality says that many studies have led to the conclusion that integration of personality is a basic key to good health in all its aspects, and thus, to the happy life. What is integration? He writes, "Briefly, integration is the condition of a personality in which all of te emotional attitudes are harmonious and mutually helpful, thus permitting all of one's natural energy to be directed toward one end." This is Paul's, "This one thing I do." It is the life with one supreme aim and center. Ligon says, "If an individual can organize his emotional attitudes in such harmony with one another, that he can direct all of his urges and appetites about one central purpose, which is always the focus of his interest and of his attention, we find the peak of efficiency, and the perfect integration." When God is that central purpose we have arrived at the highest happiness life can offer on this earth.

I read of a big cat who saw a little cat chasing his tail and he asked why? "Because I am seeking happiness, and when I catch my tail I will be happy." The big cat said, "I too have studied happiness and found it to be in my tail. But I have observed that when I chase it it keeps running away, but when I go about my business, it just seems to come after me wherever I go." The point being, the chasing after happiness can be futile, but just being faithful to your daily duties can be fruitful in fulfilling your need for happiness. It is not all out there somewhere, but it is internal, and comes with the satisfaction of a meaningful life. Paul was not out chasing happiness. Paul was doing the best he could to fulfill the calling of God, and the result was contentment in any state. He did not always feel delighted, or happy in the sense that he never wept, felt angry or frustrated, or even depressed. But he was happy that he was in the right place doing what God wanted him to do.

Happiness for Paul was in knowing he was a tool available to God to minister to human need. It was both internal as a sense of peace and contentment, and external because of the evidence that he was being used. People were changed, churches were founded, and the kingdom was expanding. The externals for Paul were fringe benefits, however, and his basic happiness was the internal contentment of being in Christ, and being used of Christ. Someone said, "Happiness is life a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you. But if you turn your attention to others things, it will come and softly sit on your shoulder."

Happiness comes from within.

Our attitudes are the key.

No matter what circumstance,

Some good we can always see.

Try positive attitudes.

They're so easy to create.

In joy and contentment,

Will be your happy fate.

If you do good to others,

You have made a sure-fire start.

It is almost guaranteed,

To put a smile within your heart.

Catherine Marshall has known the deep sorrows of grief, and the great unhappiness of life going wrong in so many ways, but she has known also the joy of success in Christian service. She writes, "I have observed that when any of us embark on the pursuit of happiness for ourselves, it eludes us. Often I've asked myself, why? It must be because happiness comes to us only as a dividend, as a gift given us by God. When we become absorbed in something demanding and worthwhile above and beyond ourselves, happiness suddenly becomes ours as a by-product of the self-giving. That should not be a startling truth, yet I'm surprised at how few people understand and accept it. Have too many of us made a god of happiness? Have we been brainwashed by the magazine and television ads, featuring happiness?"

She sees most Americans interpreting their right to the pursuit of happiness to mean the right to grab all the power, money, and pleasure they can get. This leads to some very non-Christian methods of being happy. Rights need to be dealt with right, or they become wrongs. Both Jesus and Paul make it clear that it is more than a right to be happy, it is a duty. It is part of our commitment to Christ to overcome all that would make us unhappy. Jeremy Taylor said, "God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy." Robert Louis Stevenson said, "There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy." If we listen to Jesus and Paul, and follow their example we will find happiness and contentment by knowing God as our heavenly Father, and by being committed to that which we know is His will for our lives.

 

 

 

 

2. PROSPERITY IN POVERTY Based on Matt. 5:3

After his return from church one Sunday, a small boy said, "You know what mommie? I'm going to be a preacher when I grow up." "That's wonderful," said his mother. What made you decide you want to be a preacher?" The boy said thoughtfully, "Well, I'll have to go to church anyway on Sunday, and I think it would be more fun to stand up and yell than to sit still and listen." Happiness is yelling rather than listening from the perspective of a small boy. From the perspective of a mother, however, happiness is a small boy who sits still and listens. Happiness is obviously different things to different people, and even different things to the same person under varying circumstances.

Someone has said, to be happy with a man you must love him a little and understand him a lot. To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot, and not even try to understand her. Whatever you think of that, there is no doubt that happiness means something different to each of the sexes. It also varies according to the interest of persons. The poet Gray said, it would be a paradise of happiness for him if he could lie on a sofa and read new French romances forever. Doremas Hayes, the great Mennonite scholar wrote in response to that ideal of happiness: "To lie on a sofa and read French novels forever would be no paradise for some of us. It would be a purgatory by the end of one month, and it would be the blackest depth of hell in less than a year."

We met a couple who bought a shirt for their overweight boy, and it had these words printed on it-Happiness is suppertime. Not long ago the sign at the Holiday Inn read, "Happiness is eating in the Camelot Room." But we all know that the pleasure of eating does not make life happy in any lasting sense. And there are many in poor health who do not even enjoy the temporal blessing it can be. Happiness, as we generally think of it, varies with the winds of circumstance. We tie happiness so closely to emotion, and nothing could be more variable than feelings. We can feel happy today, and depressed tomorrow, depending on the news, the weather, or any number of circumstances.

Jesus is not interested in this kind of subjective haphazard happiness. He goes to the inner man, and speaks of a happiness, or blessedness, which is a matter of character and being. It does not depend on external circumstances. Happiness rises and falls, but blessedness is a kind of happiness that remains steady in spite of the variations in feelings. The Beatitudes of Jesus are attitudes of being. Happiness in the highest sense depends on what you are and not what happens to you. There are many others who have arrived at this conclusion, but no one has been so paradoxical as Jesus. He tells us that happiness is found in just the opposite direction that men are going in search of it. It seems like nonsense to the world to find happiness in poverty, mourning, meekness, and persecution.

Even Christians wonder what Jesus means by these apparently contradictory statements. We must recognize that Jesus is challenging the world's whole system of values. Many worldly people speak highly of the Sermon On The Mount and the Beatitudes because they are not aware of the radical nature of what Jesus is saying. A true understanding of His concept of happiness will transform the life of any person, and radically alter their character and conduct. The Interpreter's Bible says, "The Beatitudes, far from being passive or mild, are a gauntlet flung down before the world's accepted standards. Thus they become clearer when set against their opposites. The opposite of poor in spirit are the proud in spirit. The opposite of those who mourn are the light headed, always bent on pleasure. The opposite of the meek are the aggressors. The opposite of the persecuted are those who always play it safe."

If we intend to be happy, from the perspective of Jesus, we will come into direct conflict with the standards of the world. This can and does lead to opposition, and persecution, and a great deal of subjective unhappiness for the Christian. Any way you approach it the Christian life, at its best, is a paradox. By means of what the world calls unhappiness, we can be happy in the highest sense, but the consequences may be subjective unhappiness in relation to the world. This paradox becomes easier to grasp if we distinguish between subjective and objective happiness. Almost everyone who writes about happiness thinks only of the subjective side-that is how a person feels and thinks. Jesus deals with objective happiness, that is how God thinks, for He alone can see life from God's perspective, and know the ultimate consequences of all we are and do. Objective happiness is not based on how you feel, but how you measure up to God's standard.

Notice how Jesus just lays it down as a fact and law of life when He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." He does not say, may they be blessed, or they should be or will be, they just are. But what if they don't feel like it, or are not aware of it? That is beside the point. Jesus is not talking about how people feel. He is speaking of the objective standard of happiness, and if you measure up, you are happy whether you feel like it or not. In fact, it is impossible to feel happy when are mourning, or when you are being persecuted, unless you are neurotic or psychotic. Subjective happiness at all times would be abnormal for anyone. The poet was right who wrote,

If you can smile when things go wrong, and say it doesn't matter.

If you can laugh off cares and woe, and trouble makes you fatter.

There's something wrong with you.

For one thing I've arrived at, there are no ands and buts,

A guy that's grinning all the time must be completely nuts.

To be subjectively happy all the time would be unchristlike, for Jesus felt sorrow and grief. He wept, and He felt frustration over the failure of His disciples. He was angry and upset by evil and oppression. The world longs for perpetual subjective happiness. They want to feel good all the time, regardless of the sin and evil in the world. The Christian cannot and dare not even try, for that is to go in the opposite direction of true happiness according to Jesus. The truly happy Christian will be miserable at times in a world so full of evil and folly. The Christian naturally wants his share of subjective happiness, but this is secondary, and is to be a byproduct.

Our goal is to be objectively happy according to the standard of Christ. This means a Christian might feel terrible, and yet be very happy. He might say, I feel so ignorant and helpless, and it is so discouraging to have so little capacity to serve God. He feels subjectively unhappy, but Jesus says that this poverty of spirit is just what God wants in a person, and so whether he knows it or not, he is a blessed person headed for great reward in the kingdom of God. On the other hand, the Christian who says, I am satisfied with what I know, and feel happy about my service for the Lord, is really far less happy by God's standard, even though he feels better than the other Christian who is poor in spirit, and who mourns over his inability, and who hungers for more of God's righteousness.

It is one thing to feel happy, and another thing to be happy. The mature Christian is one who is able to see from the perspective of Christ, and be able to feel subjective joy even when the circumstances of objective happiness are not joyful. When he knows he is what God wants him to be, he is happy even if he doesn't feel it. This calls for an eternal perspective, and a faith in God's ultimate plan. Jesus went this way before us, and our happiness depends on our following Him. Heb. 12:2 put it, "Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

Jesus was not subjectively happy on the cross, but He was the most objectively happy person that ever lived, for He was fulfilling everything God wanted Him to be, for He was the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. This is our goal as we study these beatitudes. Being what God wants you to be is the highest level of happiness. The first of these paradoxes is, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Poor and poverty are words which the world flees from like the plague, for they see them as the enemy of happiness. Jesus says there is a form of poverty which is the key to happiness, and all are in general agreement that this is the basis on which all of the beatitudes are built. There are three attitudes which, when combined, give us a good picture of the person who is poor in spirit. First there is-

I. THE ATTITUDE OF DEFICIENCY.

No person can be truly happy who does not recognize he has a lack in his life. We often think it would be wonderful to be totally satisfied with no sense of deficiency, but Jesus says this would be a curse. The Christians in Laodicea made this mistake. Their attitude was one of proud self-sufficiency, and this is what Jesus says to them in Rev. 3:17, "You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I have need of nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked." Failure to recognize their deficiency led them into pride. They were blind to their poverty, and the result was a subjective feeling of satisfaction, but objective unhappiness in the eyes of Christ. However they felt, they were miserable according to Christ.

If they had recognized their deficiency, and been poor in spirit they would have been dependent on Christ and His sufficiency, and, therefore, prosperous and happy. They took the world's way of prosperity and landed in spiritual poverty. The way of Christ is the way of poverty, which is an honest recognition that you are deficient. This leads to growth, prosperity, and happiness. The poor in spirit are those who simply see the facts of life as they are. They tell it like it is, and they know they are far from what they ought to be. Pascal said, "There are only two kinds of men, the righteous who believe themselves sinners; the rest, sinners who believe themselves righteous." These are represented by the story Jesus told of the Publican and the Pharisee in the temple.

The Pharisee was proud in spirit, and he was unconscious of any deficiency. He thanked God he was not as other men. The Publican saw the facts. He knew he was a sinner and needed help, and he cried out for God to be merciful to him as a sinner. He, as an example of the poor in spirit, received the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says he went away justified. The Pharisee felt no sorrow for sin. He shed no tear over his callousness to human need. He felt just great, but objectively, measured by God's standard, he was a poverty stricken wretch in the filthy rags of his own righteousness. The poor Publican knew more of his deficiency and poverty of righteousness, so he turned to God in mourning, and he hungered and thirsted for God's righteousness to fill his emptiness. He went away with great wealth, the pockets of his soul being filled with the jewel of justification, the gold of godliness, and the silver of salvation. He found the prosperity in poverty of which Jesus is speaking in this beatitude.

An attitude of deficiency is essential to the highest happiness, for such an attitude keeps us open to the blessings of God. Happy are those who know they don't have, for they are open to receive. If you think you have already, you will not be open to receive. The honest Christian knows that even though he may not steal, he still covets. He knows that his spirit is far from the ideal, and is subject to envy, jealousy, bitterness, pettiness, and love of ease and pleasure. It is hard to be honest and admit our deficiencies, and the natural pride of man resists it. The world holds up self-sufficiency as the key to happiness, and the modern man wants no part of admitting to deficiency. An egocentric writer was giving a group a running account of his own great activities and achievements. Finally he stopped and said, "Enough about myself. Let's hear from you. What do you think of my latest book?"

Jesus says those who are so delighted and happy with themselves are objectively miserable, and their final state will be tragic, but those who see their deficiency, and are dissatisfied with themselves are objectively happy and are heading for great heights in the kingdom of God. The paradox is, only those conscious of the great gulf between them and God are able to draw near to God. Only those with an attitude of deficiency can be truly happy, not because a lack of anything is good in itself, but because this attitude leads to the second characteristic of the poor in spirit.

II. THE ATTITUDE OF DEPENDENCE.

A man who is truly aware of his emptiness is looking for help. The proud man is able to make it alone, but the poor in spirit knows he is not self-sufficient, but very dependent. The Greek word for poor here carries in it the idea of begging, and not merely the idea of lacking. Many translate it, "Blessed are the beggarly in spirit." The concept of dependence is in the very word.

God alone is totally self-sufficient, and no man can ever be truly happy until he recognizes he is dependent upon God. The sin which led to all human unhappiness was the sin of striving to become independent of God. Jesus counteracted the cause of all sin with the opposite attitude of total and absolute submission, and dependence upon God. Jesus was the greatest example of the poor in spirit. Listen to His own testimony in John 5:19, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing." In John 14:10 He said, The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works." Jesus was totally dependent upon the Father for everything. He prayed for guidance before choosing the 12; He prayed for power before healing, and for strength to meet His needs.

Jesus did not go about in pride, as if He had an all powerful manhood. He knew He was powerless and helpless in himself. His body and physical capacity was no greater than that of other men. Without God, without prayer, and without the constant leading of the Holy Spirit, Jesus could not have lived the perfect life anymore than you or I. He succeeded, not because of His own divine power, for he emptied Himself of that and became a man with all the limitations of manhood, but He succeeded by total dependence on God the Father. According to God's standard, Jesus was the happiest man who ever was, or who will ever be, because he alone was the perfect example of the poor in spirit.

Ralph Sockman said of the poor in spirit, "Whatever success they achieve they attribute to sources beyond themselves." This was the attitude of Jesus, and must be ours if we would be happy in the highest sense. Jesus said, "Without me you can do nothing." Only as we recognize this, and yield ourselves to Him in total dependence can we say with Paul, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." The attitude of dependence on Christ is the door to the kingdom, and the way to the heights of happiness within the kingdom.

Andrew Tait defined the poor in spirit as, "Those who are conscious of their own frailties and imperfections, who renounce all dependence on themselves and all pretension to merit, and, weary and heavy laden, cast themselves at the feet of Christ for mercy." You notice he includes both the attitude of deficiency and the attitude of dependence. To feel your deficiency can lead to defeat if it does not drive you to dependence upon God. The spies who went into the Promise Land saw their deficiency, and they felt like grasshoppers before giants, but they were not happy. Joshua was happy because he took the second step, and had the attitude of dependence upon God, and thus, was assured a victory. Poverty of self-sufficiency in one's own spirit which leads to dependence upon the power of God's Spirit is the key to prosperity and happiness."

The saint that wears heaven's brightest crown,

In deepest adoration bends;

The weight of glory bows him down,

The most when most his soul ascends;

Nearest the throne itself must be

The footstool of humility.

 

The third character of the poor in spirit is-

III. THE ATTITUDE OF DETACHMENT.

Luther said, "Poverty before God, that is, of the heart, is when one does not place his trust and confidence in temporal things." If one is to be truly dependent upon God, he must be detached from the things of the world that non-Christians grasp at for happiness.

Jesus was ever calling men to detach themselves from the values of the world to follow Him. James and John were called to leave their boats and nets. Matthew was called to forsake his tax collecting. Zachaeus offered to detach himself from his wealth and share it. Paul suffered the loss of all things to serve Christ. All the values he had established in society he gave up. He became detached from all to be a slave for Christ. The rich young ruler could not detach himself from his wealth, and so could not become a disciple.

The curse of riches, fame, and power, and all the world's ways to happiness is not due to inherent evil, but because they compete with total dependence upon God. Men get attached to their wealth, position, and power, and, therefore, lose their attitude of dependence upon God. The history of Israel reveals it over and over. When she was poor and helpless, she depended completely on God, and was happy and blessed. When she became prosperous, and became attached to riches, she lost dependence upon God, and ended up under God's wrath. Prosperity was her greatest curse, and led to her poverty. It was not because wealth is evil, for it is not, but because it destroys dependence. The attitude of detachment is essential to maintaining the attitude of dependence.

If we become prosperous, the only way to avoid it being a destructive thing is to avoid becoming attached to it. Literal poverty comes in here, but we don't have time to deal with it here. The evidence would lead to the conclusion that the literal poor stand a better chance of finding God's highest happiness than the rich, because poverty leads to dependence on God, and it is easier to feel detached from what you do not possess. Potentially, the poor in this world's goods can be the richest in the kingdom of heaven.

This is a sidelight, however. The poor in spirit are those who, be they rich or poor in this world's goods, are detached from them, and dependent upon God. Dependence is the central concept of the poor in spirit. The attitude of deficiency on one side, and detachment on the other, are for the sake of increasing and maintaining dependence. Whatever leads to dependence upon God is good and intensifies our happiness. Poverty of spirit is the starting line, and only as we start here can we ever hope to experience the prosperity of Christlike happiness.

 

 

 

3. HAPPINESS IN SORROW Based on Matt. 5:4

The soloist asked the visiting preacher what his subject was. She wanted to follow up with an appropriate message in song. When he hesitated she told him to never mind, she would listen and select something appropriate. When he concluded his sermon she sang,

"Sometime, Somewhere, We'll Understand." Many a sermon is hard to understand because it is over our heads, complicated, and far removed from our experience of life. But one of the paradoxes of life is that a sermon can also be hard to understand just because it is too simple, and easy to grasp. This is the case with the beatitudes. Jesus uses no big words; nor does He get complicated, or off on areas of life removed from common experience. On the contrary, He is so simple and clear in what He says that it becomes a problem.

Blessed are those who mourn is just too clear, and Luke makes it even more clear when he writes, "Blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh." This is so clear and obvious that it is hard to understand. The simplicity of it must be complicated by distinctions and interpretations before it makes sense, for who ever heard of happy sadness? Paradox always calls for careful interpretation. If we take these words as an absolute statement without qualification we end up as universalists. If all who mourn are to be comforted, then all shall be comforted, for all men mourn. The aged poet reflects back on life and writes,

I've seen your weary winter-sun

Twice forty times return,

And every time has added proofs

That man was made to mourn.

Certainly, Jesus did not mean to convey the idea that mere mourning is the key to happiness. That would turn hell into heaven, and give us salvation by sorrow. What of the immoral mourning of Ahab because he could not have the vineyard of Naboth? What of Jonah's mourning because of God's mercy on Ninevah? What of Hamen's mourning over the advancement of Mordacai? What of the mourning of Judas over his betrayal of Jesus, and the millions who mourn because the consequences of sin are misery and death? The road to damnation is wet with the tears of those who mourn. It is clear that the simple statement of Jesus cannot be taken as a absolute rule, for that would lead to the superficial conclusion that all evil men will be comforted rather than condemned. Sin, suffering, and sorrow would be only illusions, and we will all be happy when the light of truth dissolves them. This is an unbiblical view of evil, and certainly this is not what Jesus meant.

What then did Jesus mean by this statement? Bill Graham asks, "How can one extract the perfume of gladness from the gall of sorrow?" If not all sorrow leads to happiness, and not all mourning leads to comfort, then we need to distinguish between good and evil sorrow. The best way to accomplish this is to look at the mourning of Christ.

What made Him weep and shed tears? This will be the kind of mourning that we must do to be blessed. We must study the attitudes of Christ which made Him mourn to see the meaning of this beatitude. The first attitude of Jesus that led Him to mourn was His-

I. ATTITUDE ON SIN.

Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, not just because of what sin was doing to Him through those who rejected Him, but because of what sin was doing to them. Weep not for me, He said to those who felt sorry for Him, but weep for yourselves. The consequences of sin are horrible, and those who do not find refuge in Christ must suffer the full force of God's wrath on sin. This is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and there can be no doubt that He shed many tears of mourning as he prayed alone all night in secluded places. This kind of mourning over sin is a key to happiness, because it leads one to oppose sin and its consequences. This is to take a stand with God against Satan, and assures one of eternal victory and comfort.

This attitude is different from that of sorrow over sin because the consequences spoil your pleasure. The worldly person mourns over sin in this way. The one thief on the cross mourned because his sin led him to the death penalty. He did not feel bad over his sin, but he felt terrible over getting caught, and having to pay the penalty. The world's beatitude is, "Blessed are they that never get caught." Bertha Buxton said, "After all, the eleventh commandment (thou shalt not be found out) is the only one that is vitally important to keep in these days." This is no joke, but the sincere philosophy of masses of people. To enjoy the pleasures of sin and escape the penalty is the goal of life for many. This leads to being insensitive to sin, and a careless and carefree attitude which is just the opposite of what Jesus is saying.

When we cease to be sensitive to sin, and, therefore, cease to mourn over what it is doing to God, others, and to ourselves, we cut ourselves off from the hope of anything but the most superficial happiness. Newman said, "Our best remedy against sin is to be shocked at it." The tragedy is that sin is so common that we tend to take it for granted. We adjust to it and consider our comfort and ease in its presence a sign of strength. As a college student, John McFarland spent a summer in the slums of Chicago. When he returned to school, and to the country parish where he served, he told of his shock at what he saw. After the service, a member of the congregation, who had been on the board of a large corporation in Chicago, came up to him and said, "Don't worry about it John-you'll get to the place where that sort of thing won't bother you any more."

He was right, of course, but what he failed to realize is that when we adjust to sin, and are no longer bothered and disturbed enough to mourn, we drop down to zero on God's objective standard of happiness. By escaping the sorrow that comes with being disturbed by sin, we place ourselves in a neutral position in the battle of good and evil. This is the lukewarm position that is distasteful to God, and makes you of no value in His plan to push back the forces of darkness. Happiness for the Christian is dependent upon being sorrowful over sin, and what it does to people's lives. Those who do not mourn over sin do not repent, and so they do not receive God's forgiveness, and so cannot be ultimately happy.

He that lacks time to mourn lacks time to mend.

Eternity mourns that. 'Tis and ill cure

For life's worst ills to have no time to feel them.

Had the Prodigal Son never come to the place of mourning over his folly, he never would have experienced the happiness of a father's forgiveness, and a joyous welcome home. His mourning was the key to his happiness, and so it is for millions who mourn over their sin, and flee back to God in repentance.

God's love runneth faster than our feet,

to meet us stealing back to Him and peace,

and kisses dumb our shame; nay, and puts on

the best robe, bidding angels bring it forth.

The angels of heaven rejoiced over the repentant returning sinner. God is happy as well, and so is the one who has mourned over his sin. In no other kind of sorrow can so much happiness be found. Who is happier than the one who has just lost his heavy burden at the cross.

It is important that we see this is to be continuous, and not just a once for all mourning at the time of conversion. It is not, blessed are those who have mourned, but, those who do mourn. Sensitivity to sin must characterize the Christian at all times. This leads to immediate sorrow when we sin, and to confession and cleansing. Paul wrote in II Cor. 2:10, "For Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regrets, but worldly grief produces death." There is a clear distinction between sorrow that leads to death, and that which leads to the life of happiness. Happiness comes only from the sorrow that is honest and realistic about sin.

Pascal said, "There is no comfort in anything except the truth." And the truth is, says L. P. Jacks, "We are all stockholders in human misery and degradation." The poor in spirit recognized this, and those who mourn do something about it, for they repent and receive God's solution to their sin through Christ. In a very literal sense, no man will ever be truly happy who has not mourned because of his sin, and that of others. Jesus wept over what sin did to others, and this leads us to the consideration of the second kind of mourning Jesus had in mind. It is that mourning which comes from-

II. ATTITUDE OF SYMPATHY.

Thomas Jefferson said, "Sensibility of mind is indeed the parent of every virtue, but it is the parent of much misery too." Jesus could have lived a much more peaceful and undisturbed life had He not been so sensitive to people's needs. He had compassion on the multitudes over and over again, and this meant a heart constantly bearing the burdens of others. Dr. Jowell called Jesus the divine seismograph. He wrote, "His heart was a delicate instrument sensitively registering the faintest tremors of the world's pain and sorrow." This is the kind of mourning that leads to happiness by God's standard. The happiest people in the world are not those who have sealed up their hearts, and walled themselves off from the suffering of the world. On the surface it may seem like happiness to be oblivious and indifferent to the needs of others, but in reality it is a curse. It is that form of security in which you lose your life by saving it. He who would save his life must lose it, said Jesus. He must open his heart to the pain of involvement, and take up the cross and follow Him. Follow Him to happiness on the road of sympathy.

Lord Shaftesbury, the English Reformer, saw a funeral as a boy that changed the course of history. The body of the poor man had been put in a hand made coffin, and was being pulled by his three drunken friends on a hand drawn cart. They were singing foolish songs, and in their carelessness they let the coffin fall and break open. They were hilarious and disgusting, and the sadness of it hit him so deeply that he vowed that he would do something to change that sad scene. He was grieved by what he saw, and because he came to have the power to do something about it, his mourning led to victory over much evil. He went on to make a major difference in many social issues of his day. Theophylact said, "It is one of the worst sights to see a sinner go laughing to hell." Jesus mourned over such sinners, and so have many others, and these mourners, because of their sympathy with the sinner have done things to lead many of them to heaven.

"Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God," was the prayer of the founder of World Vision. No Christian can be happy in depth if he does not have the heart of Christ which mourns over what sin does to people's lives. David in Psa. 119:136 wrote, "Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed." When you get so hardened that the power of sin to destroy lives no longer bothers you, you have shriveled up, rather than have grown. It may hurt to care but it is only those who hurt who care enough to help.

Isolation and the attempt to be happy by taking care of no. 1 and leaving others to bear their own burdens is the devil's joy. James Reid said, "The saddest thing in all God's world is not a soul that sorrows; it is a heart so dull that it is incapable of feeling grief at all." Abraham Lincoln said, "I am sorry for the man who can't feel the whip when it is laid on the other man's back." It costs to be sensitive and to have compassion. A great deal of subjective happiness goes down the drain when you take up the cross of sympathy, and weep with those who weep. It is a burden that lifts, however, and leads you and others into the depths, and also the heights, of blessedness.

Samuel H. Miller, dean of Harvard said, "There is no way to share in the agony of our world, its darkness and shame and bewilderment, except by suffering what it suffers, caring in our hearts what it cares in its heart, and sweating through the Gethsemane of its travail and decision." This, of course, is what the incarnation of Christ is all about. When Jesus, with strong crying and tears, wept in agony in Gethsemane, He entered wholly and sympathetically into the suffering of mankind, and by so doing opened the way to perfect understanding between God and man, and thus, to perfect happiness. If you are never sad, but only mad at sinners, you will not be a happy Christian.

A joy there is, in sacrifice secluded;

A life subdued, from will and passion free;

Tis not the joy which over Eden brooded,

But that which triumphed in Gethsemane.

Blessed are those who mourn because of their attitude toward sin, and their attitude of sympathy toward the sinner. The third attitude which shows the reality of finding happiness in sorrow is very comprehensive, and it takes in mourning over sickness, suffering, separation, setbacks, and sidetracks in life. It is the-

III. ATTITUDE OF SUBMISSION.

This attitude alone can make it possible for the Christian to find happiness in much of the mourning of life. We have a vague idea in our minds that grief, tragedy, and suffering somehow brings us nearer to God, but we don't believe it enough to long for those things.

On the contrary, we shun them, and pray for God's providence to help us avoid them. We would rather draw nearer to God in health and prosperity any day. The world also wants the happiness of a suffering free life, but, of course, they cannot attain it, and Jesus knew

none of His followers could attain it either, and so He incorporated the unavoidable sorrows of life into His system of happiness. Suffering and sorrow from evil is real. Jesus endured it Himself, but He also conquered it through submission. Not my will but thine be done, was the conclusion Jesus came to as He mourned in the garden. The only way much suffering can be redeemed for good is by letting it drive you to God in total submission. Any mourning that leads to this attitude will place you high on God's objective standard of happiness, and in His providence will often lead also to great subjective happiness.

For example, when Frank Laubach was a missionary in the Philippines, he wanted desperately to be chosen president of the Theological Seminary in Manila. One vote cost him the appointment. As a result, he became bitterly resentful, and so much so that in his brooding his work and his health began to fail. Here is destructive mourning that will never lead to happiness, but only to misery. There is only one way that this sorrow can be a means to happiness, and fortunately for him, the world, and the kingdom of God, Frank took it. In desperation he cast himself before God in total submission. Without reservation, he committed his life to be used in any way God saw fit. To demonstrate his death to self, he went to live among the fierce head-hunting Moros, whom no missionary had been able to reach.

For months he lived in great danger, but he labored diligently and won their confidence, and began a Christian work among them. Because of his submission and willingness to be nobody, God made him somebody, and Frank Lauback went on to become one of the best known men in all the world, as the world's greatest apostle to illiterates. He has taught more people to read then any man in history. A friend of his wrote of his experience. "God took the deep yearning that had turned into mourning, and the mourning that had triumphed in relinquishment, and out of this yearning and relinquishment brought into birth a meek, God-controlled Frank Lauback."

Any mourning that leads to submission to God, rather than resistance, resentment, or rebellion, will lead to happiness. This principle holds true for the sorrow that comes with the loss of a loved one, or the shock of finding you have cancer, or any number of things that lead to mourning. Dr. William F. Rogers in his book, Ye Shall Be Comforted, gives us a bit of established information that will be of value to all of us. "As human personalities we can stand a great deal in the way of emotional shock, but the one thing that gets us into trouble is deceit. When we honestly face and accept the fact, no matter how distressing, the immediate shock can be accommodated without dire consequences, but when we try to evade or suppress unpleasant realities, then we are in for emotional disturbances. When we express our sense of loss and sorrow, the reality of it is fully established, it is accepted, and it is overcome."

From a scientific and psychological point of view he concludes, "There is no comfort for those who do not mourn." The statement of Jesus is not absolute in the sense that all mourning will be comforted, but it is absolute in the sense that all mourning which leads to submission to God shall be comforted. This means that the essence of this beatitude is the same as the first one, and all of the rest, for it is a matter of dependence upon God. An attitude toward sin that drives you to Christ as your only hope. An attitude of sympathy that drives you to serve others in the compassion of Christ, and finally, an attitude of submission that drives you to your knees before God, broken and yielded to be used as He wills. These are the attitudes that will lead us to Christlike happiness in sorrow.

 

 

 

4. THE MIGHTY MEEK Based on Matt. 5:5

A dejected coach entered a telephone booth after losing out in the high school basketball tournament. When he discovered he didn't have a dime he called a passing student: "Hey! Lend me a dime so I can call a friend." The student reached into his pocket and pulled out two dimes. He handed them to the coach and said, "Here's two dimes coach, call all your friends." It is hard to be a loser and still win friends and influence people. Human nature resents defeat. Yet, defeat is necessary to test a person's strength of character. Most everyone can win gracefully, but it takes something extra to be graceful in defeat. It is one of the paradoxes of life that some positive values can only be developed under negative circumstances. The poet gives an example.

Good sportsmanship we hail, we sing,

It's always pleasant when you spot it.

There's only one unhappy thing;

You have to lose to prove you've got it.

Richard Armour

What is true for sports, is true for the game of life in general. Only those who know how to respond properly to defeat, anger, insult, and persecution, can be truly happy and good sportsman in the game of life. The natural tendency is to meet every challenge to the ego with aggression. Any insult to the I on the throne must be met with revengeful retaliation. This attitude was at one time built right into the framework of society. The code of honor required men to duel to the death of one of them over an insult. The man who could avenge himself by eliminating anyone who dared to offend him was a hero. Although this tragic code has longed been outlawed, the attitude it represented still reigns in the hearts of men.

So much so that the words of Jesus, "Blessed are the meek," are themselves and offense to men. It is an insult to their dignity, and contrary to what they feel are the facts of life. It is the aggressor who gets what he is after. The meek are crushed and trampled under the feet of the strong, and rather than inheriting the earth, they are fortunate if they can hold on to what little they have. The only happiness you can get out of this beatitude, say the critics, is the happiness of a good laugh. Kim Hubbard considers it a joke and writes, "It's going to be fun to watch and see how long the meek can keep the earth after they inherit it."

Meekness has come to be so closely associated with weakness that it loses all attraction. Even children want no part of it. A little boy said to his mother, "Don't call me your little lamb, call me your little tiger." Power is what appeals, and words that speak of strength. Meekness may be a good word for the female of the species, but it is as out of place in the masculine camp as lace. Aristotle was afraid of meekness, even though he considered it a good thing. He wrote, "The meek man is not apt to avenge himself, but rather to forgive." He feared the very thing that Jesus holds up as the key to happiness,

which is the ability to forgive one who has insulted or injured you. This beatitude brings us into conflict with the value systems of the world, and the sinful pride of our own nature. Only if we are poor in spirit, and recognize our own deficiency and dependence upon God, and only if we mourned over our sin, and submit ourselves to God, can we find the happiness that comes through meekness.

Jesus is always our greatest example of every virtue, and when we see what meekness is in Him, we discover it is not weakness, but power and strength. Jesus was the mighty meek, and His meekness of being the Lamb of God was not incompatible with His mightiness of being the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. His lowliness of being the Lily of the Valley is not incompatible with His loftiness of being the Bright and Morning Star. Meekness, when rightly understood, is not only compatible with strength, it is the way to strength, and, as Jesus says, it is the means whereby Christians will accomplish what all the power of aggression has failed to do, and they will inherit the earth. We want to look at three attitudes which characterize the meek.

I. THE ATTITUDE OF REASONABLENESS.

Meekness is a matter of the mind. Matthew Henry, the well known Bible commentator writes, "The office of meekness is to keep reason upon the throne in the soul as it ought to be; to preserve the understanding clear and unclouded, the judgment untainted and unbiased in the midst of the greatest provocation." The opposite of being meek is to be a victim of passion. Alexandra the Great in a drunken fit of anger threw a spear at one of his best friends and killed him. When I was in high school doing jail visitation on Sunday, I met and Indian who had gotten mad at his friend. He went and got a sawed off shotgun and blew his friend in half. He was drunk, as was his friend. These are illustrations of the power of the non-meek, and those who are ruled by unreasonable passion.

As tragic as passion and brute force can be, the world still holds that this is the way to be victorious in the dog eat dog life. The Saga Of King Olaf by Longfellow gives us the world's philosophy.

Force rules the world still, Has ruled it, shall rule it;

Meekness is weakness, Strength is triumphant.

Over the whole earth, Still is it Thor's-Day.

Jesus says this is blind unreasonable deception, and that meekness is the true power that will conquer. Those who allow emotion and unreasonable force determine their response to life's blows, blow up and destroy the happiness of others as well as their own. Jesus rejects such nonsense, and says in Matt. 11:29, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart." Paul was wise enough to take this advice, and he writes, in

II. Cor. 10:1, "I Paul, myself intreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ."

Meekness is that attitude of God when He said, "Come now let us reason together." All through the Bible the appeal is to be meek and gentle, for this is the only reasonable way to face life. Jesus, in meekness, faced scoffing, pushing, whipping, spitting, and every indignity men could inflict upon Him. Even unto to crucifixion. He went as a lamb to slaughter, and He opened not his mouth. This was not weakness, but incomparable strength. Jesus had the power to retaliate to the injustice of it all with a just wrath, but instead, He prayed, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Jesus not only kept cool when being provoked to a point that would make most men boil, and overflow with rage, He responded in love.

Reasonableness leads to restraint, so that a man's energy and temper are brought under the control of a purpose. Meekness, therefore, leads to strength, for it keeps energy on the right track where it fulfills goals. Xenophon used the very Greek word we have here for meekness to describe horses broken to bridle. They were made meek by being tamed, and this was not to make them weak, but to make their strength useful. The wild horse burns up power in useless displays of wildness. The meek horse is just as strong, but his energy is being channeled into creative usefulness. The meek man is not weak, but the man who uses his strength for accomplishing a reasonable purpose.

The reasonable man, or the meek man, does not strike back and fight, and go about defending his ego, because he is not foolish, and has better things to do with his energy. Paul says be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. This is the reasonable response of the man of meekness. This takes far greater power than letting your nature respond to its natural desire for revenge when it is insulted or injured. Hugh Martin said, "Weakness is yielding to our nature; meekness is mastery over it." Those who master their nature, and control it by reason, are the mighty meek. Prov. 16:32 confirms this.

"He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city."

The reasonable of meekness is demonstrated in many ways. It is a great preserver of life. The meekness of Christ spared all of us, and the meekness of the wise through the ages has prevented much bloodshed. Sr. Walter Raleigh was once insulted by an ill-tempered young man who challenged him to a duel. Raleigh refused to take him seriously. The friends of both men were looking on, and the youth spat upon his clothes and said, "Now then will you do it?" Sir Walter took out his handkerchief and said, "Young man, if I could as easily wipe your blood from my conscience as I can this insult from my person, I would draw my sword at this instant..." That was not weakness, for weakness would have run him through. That was the strength of meekness; the strength of reason and restraint over the passions.

You and I will never save anyone's life by refraining from a duel by the power of meekness, but the principle is just as relevant to us, for studies indicate that meekness is an effective life preserver in our automotive society. Dr. Tillmon and Dr. Hobbs of Canada, in an analysis of highway accidents, have shown that the proud and aggressive drivers are the killers. High accident rate people have one thing in common, the lack of reasonable restraining meekness. They consider no one else but themselves, and demand their rights at any cost. They cannot take an insult, like being passed, without a fight. They demand to get even, and allow their passions to take over.

If you study other areas of life, you will find that lack of meekness is the cause of so much chaos. This is true in marriage also. Someone wrote,

There's was a "beef stew" marriage,

And their case was somewhat crude.

The wife was always beefing,

And the husband, always stewed.

Such marriages are the result of egocentric people who are too proud to share blame, admit error, and control their temper. They are blind and weak because they are not meek. This is true for many areas of life where the lack of meekness leads to trouble and unhappiness. Blessed and happy are the meek for their attitude of reasonableness and restraint will stand them in good stead for time and eternity. Another aspect of meekness

is-

II. THE ATTITUDE OF RECEPTIVITY.

Again, Jesus is the greatest example, for He was the most receptive of any person. None who come to Jesus will be cast out. Christ receives sinful men, for all are welcome to come and receive His forgiveness, His love, and His guidance. Jesus was also receptive of truth and guidance from His heavenly Father. Jesus never felt so adequate and self-sufficient that He could stop praying. Even though perfect, He hungered and thirsted for righteousness, for in His manhood He needed constant grace to maintain that perfection.

Meekness precedes the hungering and thirsting, for the meek are receptive, and only the receptive can be filled. The proud and the arrogant are not open to new truth. They have arrived, and what does not fit their philosophy is rejected. Neither the Bible, nor the Holy Spirit are permitted to offer any new light. Such persons are not happy, for they must live in a non-expanding self-created world. They have reduced God to a finite being, and must live in fear less some new discovery shake their faith. When a Christian gets to this point, he is no longer open and receptive to more of the infinite truth and wisdom of God. He has lost the virtue of meekness, and will, thereby, cut himself off from many of the blessings of God.

E. Stanley Jones tells of the newspaper strike that went on for a year and a half in India. A subordinate was rude to a superior officer. He was dismissed and the other employees went out on strike until he was reinstated. After a lengthy strike, a Christian government labor official suggested that the dismissed man apologize and ask for forgiveness, and that the officer forgive him, and reinstate him. This was done, and the strike was over. Because of pride, it took a year and a half. The meek are those who solve such problems before the sun goes down. Meekness is power because it refuses to let man sinful pride run the show, and make life complex. Meekness keeps life simple because it does not need all kinds of defense mechanisms.

In the French New Testament, a very interesting word is used for this beatitude. They say, "Blessed are the debonair." That is a word the world uses, and it is an attractive word, so they do not need to defend this virtue like we do the word meek. Debonair people are fun loving, courteous, well-mannered, and all that a gentleman should be. Blessed are the debonair, therefore, for they are not burdened by prides response to insults. They bypass slights and personal attacks with light-hearted indifference. They are receptive even to learning from their critics. They are not given to ramroding their own views down anyone's throat, but to listening, growing, and learning to be all things to all men that they might win them to Christ. Life is ever fresh to them, for as God's gentleman, they are always expanding in their knowledge of God and man. This receptivity of the meek leads them to present riches beyond compare, plus the inheritance of the earth.

The non-meek who are non-receptive, and unteachable lose everything. Hitler, like most great servants of evil, was perceptive enough to see this weakness in men. He wrote in his book Mein Kampf, "The receptive ability of the masses is very limited, their understanding is small, their forgetfulness great--out of indolenc