Title: Am I Poor in Spirit?

Text: Matt 5:1-12

Date: 6-21-09.am

Introduction:

Father's Day is a good day to begin our series on the beatitudes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. The beatitudes describe the character of a godly father. As a matter of fact not only do they describe the standard of character of a godly father, but as we said last week they describe the standard of character of every Christian. When we read the beatitudes we have a description of what every Christian is meant to be. READ THE TEXT

All Christians are to manifest these characteristics in their lives. These are not the traits of a so called super-Christian. Jesus is not talking about a super spiritual person, he's talking about ordinary, everyday, believers like me and like you. Each and everyone one of us is to be characterized by each and every one of these.

They are not descriptions of what we might think of as natural character traits. No man, woman , boy or girl naturally conforms to the descriptions given by Jesus in the Beatitudes. You might be thinking, you know someone who is just naturally poor in spirit, or who is just naturally meek, or who is naturally a peace maker but there is a clear distinction here between the spiritual qualitites Jesus is describing and similar qualities that might be found in the world that appear to be like them.

Each of these is a description of character that is produced only by grace through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit of God at work in the life of a believer. I mentioned they are often thought of as blessed attitudes. We refer to them as attitudes, because they are the internalization of the teachings of Scripture manifested by behavioral characteristics. As we look at them individually over the next several weeks our prayer should be that we would be yielded enough to God's Spirit to allow Him to work in our life and transform us into the kind of person described in these verses.

The first of these character traits is that of being poor in spirit.

I. What does it mean to be poor in Spirit

The first logical question to be answered is what does it mean to be "poor in spirit." Let's look first at what it doesn't mean. Sometimes people misunderstand, the meaning here particularly when comparing it to Luke 6:20 where Jesus repeats this teaching and believe Jesus was referring to economically poor individuals. Luke records the words of Jesus as Blessed are you {who are} poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. (NAS) In neither case does Jesus mean those who are financially or economically disadvantaged. That is obviously more clearly understood in Matt's gospel where the words are poor in spirit, but both passages have the same meaning.

Scripture interprets Scripture so when you have two passages that are similar the more clear one interprets the one that is less clear.

The multitudes following Jesus were predominantly Jewish as were His disciples, even those who might not have been Jewish would likely be familiar with Jewish thinking or understanding. The Jews understood the religious nature of the word poor used in this context. As an example, in the Psalms David uses a Hebrew term on several occasions that is translated poor in reference to the spiritually poor: The NASB translates the Hebrew word afflicted

Ps 40:17 But I am poor and needy; Yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God. NKJV

Ps 40:17 Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay. NIV

Ps 86:1 Bow down Your ear, O LORD, hear me; for I am poor and needy. (NKJ)

Ps 109:22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. (NKJ)

The Jewish reader or listener would understand David was not speaking of being poor financially, but spiritually. Those disciples listening to Jesus when He delivered this sermon would understand this as well. So, if we understand he isn't talking about being poor financially in terms of wealth, how do we understand being poor spiritually.

It means brokenness of heart - a deep sense of our unworthiness in the presence of God. Jesus is not talking about having a low sense of esteem nor that the poor in spirit lack anything in regard to faith. They are not missing something. They don't have a poor quality of faith.

The poor in spirit are those who acknowledge in word and deed their spiritual powerlessness apart from Jesus Christ. Those who are poor in spirit continually recognize their spiritual need.

We said last week the Beatitudes were progressive they build on one another. Being poor in spirit is the foundation upon which all of the others sit. It sets the stage so we can know right away these traits can not be manufactured, we can not create them within ourselves or by ourselves. In order for those that follow to be manifest in our life we must first and foremost be poor in spirit.

We see a picture of this in Isa chapter 6. When Isaiah came into the presence of the Lord he recognized his spiritual bankruptcy. In verses 1-4 he describes coming into that presence and seeing his own spiritual bankruptcy. He described it in v. 5 "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." (NAS)

While it doesn't refer to those who are fiscally poor. Those who are fiscally poor are a picture of what it means to be poor in spirit. In classical Greek the word referred to someone who was reduced to begging. In the bible the physically poor symbolize the spiritually poor because of their dependence on God. What we've seen through out the history of the church is that the gospel has spread fastest among those who have the fewest possessions to stand in the way of a whole hearted commitment to God. Because of economic hardship and social stress the fiscally poor have been the ones who have had confidence only in God because they have nothing else.

The rich young man, when he came to Jesus with the question of eternal life in Matt 19, said he had been obedient to the Law all of his life. But, he was unwilling to give up his possessions and follow Jesus (Matt 19:22), because he had many possession. A couple of verses later In Matt 19:24 Jesus said, ". . .it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." NASB Did He mean the rich couldn't get to heaven or couldn't be saved? No of course not. But, do you see the connection? Just as physical possessions can sometimes stand in the way of us making a commitment to Christ, so does spiritual pride or arrogance. The dominant themes that characterizes the world today are self-reliance, self-assurance, self-confidence, and self-expression. We can do it on our own, we don't need anyone else to tell us what to do or how to live or judge us, or tell us we're sinners or that we need salvation. That type of thinking isn't really new although it seems to be more prevalent today. We see it clearly described in:

Isa 14:12-14 In describing the arrogance of the King of Babylon. And, most believe this is an allegorical illusion to Satan. Isaiah wrote: "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations!" And here is the exact opposite of what Jesus says in verse three. "But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' (NAS)

In contrast to that kind of a prideful spirit Jesus says those who would follow Him must be poor in spirit. It does not mean we are to be timid, or weak, or lacking in courage. It means that we should be God-confident, God-assured and God-reliant.

II. What does it mean to be blessed?

That leads us to ask a second question: what did Jesus mean when HE taught blessed are the poor in spirit. The Greek word is often translated as happy, but in light of the modern understanding of the word happy that is a somewhat misleading translation. Happy as we use it is a subjective term that is conditional. I'm happy when I'm well fed, and not so happy when I'm hungry. I'm not happy when I have a headache, or a tooth ache, or when I have the flu. I am happy when the church is full and the Husker's are winning. Happiness is a subjective feeling it's conditional and to be blessed in this context is much more than that.

The most accurate understanding of the term as used here is an inward contentedness that isn't affected by circumstances. You can see from that it is closer to joy than happiness. Blessedness is a characteristic of God and it becomes a characteristic of persons only as we share in the nature of God. 2 Peter 1:4 we share that nature by faith in Jesus Christ. There is no blessedness of the kind Jesus speaks of here without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by faith. Blessedness is objective rather than subjective based on the reality of that relationship.

This blessedness describes what we are to be after we become Christians, after we place our trust and faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This is the character of the true disciple of Christ.

III. The Nature of that Blessedness

A third question then is what is the nature of this blessedness. What is the result of being poor in spirit? Jesus tells us that in the last part of verse 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (NAS)

What does that mean? The nature of this blessing is stated in the present tense. It is also stated in the present tense in the last beatitude. In the intervening ones it is in the future. The kingdom of heaven is something we possess now, it is also something we can expect in the future, but what is it?

When Jesus began His ministry his message was simple Matt 4:17 after he came out of the wilderness where he was tempted the Bible says, From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (NAS) The Jewish people we expecting a temporal worldly kingdom, Jesus disappointed them when He said my kingdom is not of this world.

The present reality of the kingdom of heaven is the rule of God in hearts of men by grace. We are saved by grace, we are kept by grace, we are sealed and empowered and filled by the Spirit of the living God, and we have continual access to the presences of God without the need of a mediator. That's the present reality of the kingdom of heaven possessed by the poor in spirit. The future reality of the kingdom of God is that which will be realized at death when we are absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8). The ultimate the future reality is that which will be realized at the consummation of the age.

Our question was am I poor in spirit or prideful in spirit? You can't make yourself poor in spirit, the more you try, the less you will be poor in spirit. There is only one way first is to trust Christ by faith and then to take your eyes off self and look singularly and solely at God. Love His Word, study it learn of His nature and His expectations and His will. Come into His presence, see and experience His majesty, His holiness and His Love. Accept His grace and allow Him to be not only Savior, but allow Him also to be Lord of your life. God the Father has made Him Lord over all creation, you must allow Him to be Lord of your life.