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Aug 1 14 tweets 6 min read
Chapter 6. Beatitude 3: Blessed Are The Meek (for they shall inherit the earth).

The world thinks in terms of strength and power, of ability, self-assurance and aggressiveness. Yet again, we are reminded that the Christian is altogether different from the world.
#MLJbeatitudes
He is a new man, a new creation. He belongs to an entirely different kingdom. And if we are obviously different from the non-Christians around us, this tells us a great deal about of profession of the Christian faith.
#MLJbeatitudes
The Jews that Christ was speaking to expected a materialistic and military kingdom, with Him on the throne. They were not expecting a kingdom of the meek. It was important to confront that.
#MLJbeatitudes
The meek are NOT THOSE who trust to their own organising, their own powers and abilities, their own institutions, they are the reverse of that.
#MLJbeatitudes
'Blessed Are The Meek'. These Beatitudes get increasingly difficult. It demands that we allow others to say critical things to us. We are happy to say we are a wretched sinner, but how do we feel when someone else tells us the same thing!
#MLJbeatitudes
The Lord Jesus exemplifies meekness in the face of his enemies, and in his submission to His Father. He says that 'the father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works'.

This meekness is not a natural quality. Every Christian is meant to be like this.
#MLJbeatitudes
It is something that is produced by the Spirit of God.

It is compatible with great strength, authority and power. The martyrs were meek but never *weak*. God forbid that we should confuse this noble quality with something merely animal or physical or natural.
#MLJbeatitudes
Meekness is a true view of oneself, expressed through attitude and conduct with respect to others.

You see how inevitably it follows being 'poor in spirit' and 'mourning'. The meek man is not proud of himself. He does not want to be. He is ashamed of it.
#MLJbeatitudes
The meek man - for blessed are the meek - does not make demands for his position, his privileges, his possessions, his status in life. Christ did asset that right to equality with God. He deliberately did not. And that is the point to which you and I need to come.
#MLJbeatitudes
The man who is truly meek is the one who is amazed that God and man can think of him as well as they do and treat him as well as they do.
#MLJbeatitudes
It also means that we are ready to listen and learn - that we have such a poor idea of ourselves, our capabilities that we are ready to listen to others.

We learn to accept that 'vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord'. He will repay. We have nothing to do
#MLJbeatitudes
We who are meek have already inherited the earth. As Paul said 'having nothing, and yet possessing all things'.

But in the future kingdom 'do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?'. We will judge the world. We will judge angels!
#MLJbeatitudes
Nothing but the Holy Spirit can humble us. Nothing but the Holy Spirit can make us poor in spirit and make us mourn because of our sinfulness and produce in us this true, right view of self and give us this very mind of Christ Himself. -- Dr M. Lloyd-Jones
#MLJbeatitudes

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More from @WeNeedAnArk

Jul 31
Chapter 5. Beatitude 2: Blessed Are They That Mourn (for they shall be comforted).

The world regards this as utterly ridiculous! "Forget your troubles" it says. But the meaning is entirely spiritual. He is happy who mourns in spirit.
#MLJbeatitudes
Absence of this in the Church is one reason why it is failing to evangelize. As Christians more closely approximate the Beatitudes, they are more sucesful in drawing others in. But not false piety. To be religious is not to be miserable!
#MLJbeatitudes
But we will not attract other to the faith through forced brightness and joviality. We fail to see the true depth of sin AND fail to understand true Christian joy. A double failure!

That results in a superficial kind of person and a very inadequate Christian life.
#MLJbeatitudes
Read 10 tweets
Jul 30
Chapter 4. Beatitude 1: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit.

The first, and the key to all that follows. It is an emptying. All others are a filling. The beatitudes are in a specific order for a specific reason. Pour out the old wine, before filling with the new.
#MLJbeatitudes
There is no more perfect statement of the doctrine of faith alone. It at once condemns every idea of the Sermon on the Mount which thinks in terms of something you and I can do ourselves.

It is emphatically NOT 'Blessed in spirit are the poor'.
#MLJbeatitudes
It IS 'not possessed by the worldly spirit'. It IS a poverty of spirit. Man's attitude towards himself. Genuinely putting God first, and pride second.

This is despised by the world. Self reliance, self confidence and self expression. The hubris of mankind!
#MLJbeatitudes
Read 7 tweets

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