THE POOR IN SPIRIT (Matthew 5:1-12) INTRODUCTION: Some have called the Sermon on the Mount the greatest sermon ever preached. Some have called it the most important teachings of Jesus. It certainly contains many of Jesus important teachings. Jesus also taught many other important things that are not in this sermon. He taught some great parables, like the parable of the Prodigal Son. He taught some great discourses, like the Olivet Discourse on the end times. His teachings in the Upper Room with His disciples about the new commandment, about the Father s house, about the Vine and branches, about the Holy Spirit are also very important. It is hard to say which of these is most important, but the Sermon on the Mount ranks right up there! The Sermon on the Mount is important for our understanding of the heart attitudes of those who are citizens of the Kingdom of God, who are followers of Jesus. Jesus is teaching how to live as a citizen of the kingdom of God. He is not teaching how to enter the kingdom. He speaks about this subject in John s Gospel where He teaches on the necessity of being born again to enter the kingdom. Keep in mind that the audience of the Sermon on the Mount is His disciples, those who are already following Jesus. This sermon is not describing some super-spiritual, elite group of disciples. This sermon is describing what the ordinary, everyday, disciple is to look like. This sermon is describing what you and I are to look like if we are serious about following Jesus. It is significant that Jesus starts this teaching by emphasizing the positive. He starts by listing 8 beatitudes or 8 blessings. These are: Being in the kingdom Experiencing God s comfort Inheriting the earth Filled with righteousness Having the mercy of God Seeing God Being called sons of God Being rewarded in heaven What blessings! These are blessings you can look forward to as a citizen in the kingdom. What are the heart attitudes that these blessings are related to? They are: Being poor in spirit October 7, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 1
Mourning over evil Showing meekness under pressure Hungering after righteousness Being merciful to others Having purity of heart before God Being Peacemakers among opposing parties Being Faithful under persecution. These are not describing 8 different types of people. All of them are to be displayed in each citizen of God s kingdom. We need to pray that God would give us each of the characteristics in our lives today. These attitudes describe a person who is following Jesus. Today let s look at this first one: poor in spirit. BEING "POOR IN SPIRIT" What does Jesus mean by "poor in spirit?" I believe that it was Will Rogers who said, "God must love the poor more than the rich, because there are so many of them!" But Jesus is not saying that it is a blessing to be poor! There is no virtue in being materially poor. Neither is there any wrong in being materially poor either unless you are poor because of laziness. Proverbs has much to say about that. Sophie Tucker, the actress and singer of the early 20 th century, was being asked about her early struggles for success and whether or not she had found a certain special happiness in her years of poverty. She answered, "Listen, I've been rich, and I've been poor. And believe me, rich is better. Most of us would feel that way. But Jesus is not referring to those poor in material things. Jesus is not referring to those having a low view of your self-worth. What Jesus is referring to, I believe, has to do with spiritual poverty. Being poor in spirit has to do with seeing ourselves before God as we truly are -- spiritually insufficient. It is seeing ourselves as being spiritually bankrupt in and of ourselves before God. We can get some help on understanding poor in spirit by looking as how the Old Testament uses the idea of being poor. There were many materially poor people in the Old Testament, but there were spiritually poor also. David, who was not materially poor, referred to himself as poor and needy. For example: October 7, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 2
Psalms 34:6 NIV This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. Psalms 40:17 NIV But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay. Being poor in spirit is to recognize your spiritual poverty. It is to recognize that you are oppressed by sin and evil and that your strength is not sufficient to deal with them or overcome them. In New Testament terms, being poor in spirit is realizing that "there is no good thing that dwells in me apart from Christ as Paul says. Or as Jesus says in John 15:5 apart from me you can do nothing. It is like the Gospel song goes: Without Him I could do nothing Without Him I d surely fail Oh, Without Him I would be drifting Like a ship without a sail Without Him I would be dying Without Him I d be enslaved And without Him my life would be worthless But with Jesus, thank God I am saved Jesus, oh Jesus Do you know Him today Please don t turn Him away Oh Jesus, my Jesus Without Him how lost would I be Being poor in spirit is crying out to God, "God, be merciful to me a sinner" as the Publican did. It is being like Isaiah when he cried, "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips." It is being like Peter in the presence of Christ and saying, "Depart from me for I am a sinful person." Being poor in spirit is acknowledging from the heart my spiritual bankruptcy in and of myself before God apart from His work of grace in my life and casting myself upon Jesus. Do you see yourself as poor in spirit this morning? If not, then how shall I come to see myself in this way? HOW TO SEE YOURSELF AS BEING "POOR IN SPIRIT" October 7, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 3
How can I see myself as being "poor in spirit? It most certainly cannot be induced by self-hatred. It is not going around hating myself for what I am. It is not even going around with a humble attitude either. It comes not by comparing ourselves with others. When we look at the goodness of others, we can always find someone worst, in our estimate, than we are. We do not come to have this attitude of spiritual bankruptcy by comparing ourselves with others. It is by coming into the presence of God and looking into His holiness and purity and seeing my own spiritually and morality deficiency in the light of His. When I do that I will cry out with Isaiah, "Woe is me, for I am a man with unclean lips." I will cry out with Paul, "Woe is me, for there is no good within me." When we come into the presence of God we discover that instead of being self-sufficient and acceptable before God, we are by nature rebels against Him. We have broken most of His commandments. We are guilty all the way from the tongue in our head, which practices deceit, to our feet, which do not know the way of peace. We need to try to see our sin as God sees it. And if we are to be a part of God s kingdom we must come to Him in humility trusting fully in His grace. John Stott poignantly states it: Right at the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus contradicted all human judgments and all nationalistic expectations of the kingdom of God. The kingdom is given to the poor, not the rich; the feeble, not the might; to little children humble enough to accept it, not to soldiers who boast that they can obtain it by their own prowess. In our Lord s own day it was not the Pharisees who entered the kingdom, who thought they were rich, so rich in merit that they thanked God for their attainments; not the Zealots who dreamed of establishing the kingdom by blood and sword; but publicans and prostitutes, the rejects of human society, who knew they were so poor they could offer nothing and achieve nothing. All they could do was to cry to God for mercy; and he heard their cry. They were poor in spirit. As Sinclair Ferguson also said, We are urged today to develop almost every other kind of spirit except poverty of spirit. There is much teaching on how to be filed with the Spirit, but where can we learn what it means to be spiritually emptied -- emptied of self-confidence, self-importance, and self-righteousness? Keep your eyes on God in all his holiness and you will begin to see your spiritual proverty and continue to see yourself as poor in spirit. October 7, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 4
THE BLESSING OF BEING POOR IN SPIRIT Finally, what is the blessing connected with this characteristic? Jesus says, "...theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Notice that it doesn t say theirs shall be the kingdom of heaven but theirs IS the kingdom. It is a present tense possession. How can this be? Recall that last week I said that the kingdom of heaven is the dynamic reign of God over his people. The kingdom is not only some future event that we are looking for, although it is coming in the future. No, the kingdom of God is now, i.e. at hand. To be in the kingdom of God is to be under the personal rule of God. It is being in relation with Jesus as our King. To be in the kingdom today is to experience the power of the kingdom in our lives. These present kingdom blessings belong only to those who are poor in spirit. It belongs only to those who seriously acknowledge their spiritual insufficiency before God and cast themselves on His mercy. The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who feel their own unworthiness and utter need, and who seek in Christ the sufficiency they do not find in themselves. They have already entered into their heritage because they have learned their true position in it. The blessing of being poor in spirit, of acknowledging our poverty of spiritual resources apart from Christ, is to have the personal, loving, powerful rule of God in my life. It is to have God as my King. What could be better than to know that I am in the kingdom with Christ as my King? CONCLUSION: Let me conclude with a stanza from Augustus Toplady s hymn, Rock of Ages, which will help us segue into the communion service. By the way this stanza is left out in our hymnal for some reason. This stanza is a picture of a person who recognizes that they are poor in spirit. Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy Cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress; Helpless, look to Thee for grace; Foul, I to the Fountain fly; Wash me, Saviour, or I die. As we prepare ourselves to fellowship with the Lord through the communion service, let us acknowledge that we are poor in spirit. Also let say to the Lord, Foul, I to the Fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die. Amen? Amen! October 7, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 5