Canine Authority

Have you ever noticed how small dogs tend to bark a lot more than large dogs? Many of them do this, because they know that they are weaker, so they try to make themselves seem bigger than they are by loudly barking and growling. Most large dogs, when they see this small, loud dog, will not be impressed, and might even completely ignore them. They know that they are larger and they have nothing to fear from this little animal.

Human Authority

Humans can act the same way as these dogs. In a confrontational situation, if someone does not feel like they have the authority or the “upper hand”, they might start yelling and getting angry.
The person in authority does not need to act this way. Since they have the authority, or possibly are much stronger physically, they are not threatened by the other person, so they can remain calm, knowing that they have nothing to worry about.

Authority of Jesus

When Jewish teachers in His time would teach in their synagogues or the temple, the teacher would sit down, while the rest of the people would typically stand. This was symbolic of the authority of the teacher. Jesus was very humble. At the same time, He knew who He was – the Son of God, and He never shied away from His authority and responsibility as such.

Our Authority

Jesus has given us His authority on this earth. This does not mean that we will rule over other people or that we will have a life without problems. Remember the persecution that Jesus and His disciples received. Jesus was crucified, then all but one of His twelve disciples was martyred – killed because of Jesus.
At the same time, we see that they had and exercised authority over demons, sickness, and even death, to the glory of God.

Live His Authority

Jesus knew that He was God, the Creator of the universe. At the same time, He was humble and meek. Because He knew who He was, He did not need to show off or prove Himself. He lived His life and was never intimidated by those who challenged Him.
Since He gave us His authority, we can, and should, act the same way. We should never be intimidated by other people, or even the devil himself. With Christ living in us, we have the authority.

Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount was possibly the greatest message that Jesus preached while on this earth. He taught us how to act and think. He taught us how to live humbly, knowing our place as children of God, while at the same time not boasting or asserting our authority.

Someone who is poor in spirit is not someone who brags about who they are, what they own, or how important they are. They know and accept their place. Yes, we are children, but at the same time, we are servants of God.

If you take a job making brooms, at the end of the day, you are satisfied with yourself that you did a good job. You don’t need your boss to come over to you and congratulate you for making the brooms; that’s why you were hired.
Living a godly life and humbly looking for ways to serve Christ and lead others to Him is simply what we are called to do. We should not expect congratulations or extra rewards for doing this. As Jesus told us to say, “We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.”
Remember, though – we are slaves of God, not other people. We choose to serve people. We do not, however, have to submit to their ungodly behavior or pretended authority, at least not in this country.

The Kingdom of Heaven

The kingdom of heaven is not something that we need to wait for. We can start living in this kingdom now, today. Jesus told His disciples at that time to tell people, “as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ” This same kingdom that started then is still in existence today, and it will last for all eternity.
Living in the kingdom of heaven means that we can have fellowship with Jesus now, we don’t have to wait until we die. It also means that can take comfort in the fact that He is watching over us and is providing for us.

Blessed

The Greek word that is translated “blessed” here means supremely blessed, happy, happier, fortunate, well off. Jesus is going through a list of things that we normally consider undesirable, not things we want to experience. He is making the point that this world is not our goal; the kingdom of God is. If we are living in the kingdom of heaven, fellowshipping with Jesus, comforted by the Holy Spirit, hanging out with God’s people, even though we are physically here, going through hard times, we are still truly blessed, happier than most people can imagine.
We might be rich or poor; it doesn’t matter. We are not “blessed” with worldly, physical things. We are blessed with God Himself.

Those Who Mourn

There are times in this life that are unhappy. Loved ones die. People get sick and injured. You might lose your job or even your house or car. Nothing is guaranteed here.
The Greek word translated “mourn” here literally means mourning for someone who died, but it can also mean that type of intense, sorrowful mourning that you have when a loved one dies.

Jesus told us what we already know, “In the world you have tribulation.” Bad things happen in this life. There are evil people who will want to take advantage of us. There are people who seem to get away with stealing, and all types of ungodliness. We don’t always have wonderful, happy experiences. Life is hard.

Comforted

This word, “Helper” could also be translated “Comforter” or “Someone called alongside to help.” Jesus told us that we would go through trials, but He also made sure to let us know that He would be right there with us.

We are blessed when we mourn, because we have comfort that could only come from the hand of God. If we never had the sad experience, we could never have the incredible comforting experience.

Gentle

We don’t typically think of “gentle” or “meek” people as being conquering heroes, yet Jesus Himself was described that way, and He conquered the ultimate opponent – death.

There were other heroes that we look up to, yet the Bible describes them as gentle and humble.

The Bible also records how Moses spoke with God “face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.” (Ex.33:11) Do you think that maybe his humility had something to do with it?

Inherit the Earth

We were just talking about how we shouldn’t focus on earthly things, but heavenly things. Here, Jesus is saying that the gentle will “inherit the earth.” The earth itself is not bad, just what sinful people have done to it. Of course, the way that the earth is right now, it’s probably not what we would want to inherit. When Jesus is in charge during the Millennium, the earth will once again be what He created it to be. After He created the heavens and the earth, He said that it was “very good.” (Gen.1:31)

Trust in God

Some of these things that Jesus said don’t make sense at first, until we look at them from a heavenly perspective. If we trust God completely, and our focus is on Him, we will learn to keep our eyes on Jesus, and not the world around us. He is our Savior. He is our Redeemer. He is our Provider. He is our Comforter. He is our All in All. He is everything we could ever hope, dream, or imagine. He is the Lover of our souls.

His name is Jesus!

More…

We would love to speak with you or have you worship the Lord with us. Please let us know how we can serve you.