“Blessed are the Poor in Spirit” Matthew 5:3

When we consider the blessings found in the Bible, we cannot help but eventually find our way to the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. It is here that we find Jesus’ pronouncement of the Beatitudes. They are called that because each one begins with a statement of blessing. Jesus uses the Beatitudes to introduce us to the ideas that will be presented in the remainder of the sermon.

Background

The Sermon on the Mount is a series of lessons on what Christ is looking for in the lives of His followers. The ideas presented here are that our motives are more important than our actions. Why we do what we do more important than what we’re doing. Jesus uses this time to teach us that the way to the kingdom of heaven is by trusting in the Lord and following His directions. The standard He holds up is that we are to have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees and the scribes. Such a statement in those days would be the equivalent of saying our righteousness must exceed that of Billy Graham if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven.

There is no doubt that the sermon provides instructions on how to live according to God’s will. It draws a very clear line that God expects us to follow. We follow it not because it is required, but because it is expected. It is expected as a result of the transformation that takes place in the life of the disciple who comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus lays out eight ways we find blessings. The word we translate “blessed” in each of these verses intends a happiness that is found within the person who is walking in right relationship with God. It isn’t a promise of always being smiling and trouble-free, but of being in right relationship with the Father through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Some have tried to cut the Beatitudes into seven and others have tried to expand it to ten. The reality is, there are eight of them. There’s nothing wrong with the number. Jesus lists them all because they are consistent with what it means to be a child of God and reflects the assurance that comes from that relationship.

The first Beatitude is that of the poor in spirit. Luke’s record of the beatitude is limited to “Blessed are the poor” (Luke 6:20). There are those who suggest that Luke is addressing popular thought of the day that God showed His favor—that He gave His blessing—through the accumulation of wealth. Look at Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon as examples of God favoring people with wealth. The best example of this is Job, who was considered highly blessed of God when he had great wealth. After God allowed Job to lose his family, his wealth and his health, it was assumed that Job had fallen out of God’s favor. After the trial Job endured, he was rewarded with a doubling of his wealth and family.

Remember when Jesus said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it was for a rich man to enter into heaven? Remember the incredulous reaction from Peter and the rest when they heard it? Such a thing was almost beyond their grasp.

The reality is, though, that one’s wealth or lack thereof does not reflect our relationship with God. The idea of poorness in this context is more accurately presented by Matthew—the poor in spirit.

Central Truth: God’s blessing comes to those who recognize their need for Him.

The poor in spirit:

Are those who are aware of their sinfulness before God.

The Bible has numerous verses that remind us that pride goes before a fall, that God does not honor the haughty or proud person.

The first thing we have to do when we want to be in right relationship with God is to recognize that we are not in right relationship with Him. We have to acknowledge our sinfulness and our spiritual bankruptcy in His eyes. Paul, writing to the Romans, reminded us that no one is righteous, and that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.

The person who fails to recognize that he or she needs help is the person who will refuse any assistance. The person who thinks himself or herself smarter or better than others will never have the benefit of learning from them.

So it is with the sinner. When we cannot see our desperate need for God’s redeeming grace, we will never ask for it. God tells us that we will find Him only when we seek Him with all our heart. The person who doesn’t think he needs God is the one who will never know what it is to walk in fellowship with Him.

In Isaiah 61:1, the Bible says, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” The whole reason of the Gospel—that God sent Jesus to die for our sins and redeem us from eternal punishment and to bring us into a right relationship with Him—is precisely because we are all poor in spirit. We all need salvation because each one of us, from the beginning of creation until the coming of the new heaven and new earth, has sinned. There is no one who has the ability to stand before God and declare we have the right to enter into His presence.

If we will enter the kingdom of heaven, we must recognize our sin. We must acknowledge we are poor in spirit.

Are those who willing to humble themselves before God.

The funny thing about salvation is that it is not enough to recognize our spiritual bankruptcy. There must be something more, and that is we must humble ourselves before God.

Jesus told a parable in Luke 18:9-14 of two men who went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee in his prayer reminded God what a wonderful person he was and even referenced the tax collector as a sinner in comparison. The collector, on the other hand, simply prayed, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus ends the parable by saying the tax collector was the one who went home justified before God.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14, the great verse that speaks of restoration, God tells Solomon that we must humble ourselves before Him and pray and seek His face and repent. There cannot be pride in the recognition of being spiritually poor. Imagine the absurdity of glorying in one’s sinfulness.

God tells us in Micah 6:8 that He wants us to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him. Humility is recognizing that we are limited in our knowledge and our understanding. It is coming into His presence knowing that He has so much to give us, and we have only ourselves to give to Him.

To be poor in spirit is to be aware of our sinfulness and humbly seeking God’s intervention in our lives. Only then can we begin to embrace the relationship He wants with us and we need from Him.

Are rewarded with citizenship in God’s kingdom.

The verses we’ve mentioned in the previous two points of this message all point us to how we are brought into a right relationship with God. He sends Jesus to preach good news to us. He wants us to walk in humble fellowship with Him. He wants us to seek Him, to turn from our sins and to seek fellowship with Him through prayer and obedience. And he wants us to recognize that we are unable to save ourselves.

When we come to that point, when we confess our sinfulness and ask Christ to save us, then a whole new world opens for us. No longer are we enemies of God, dead in our sins and incapable of knowing Him and His ways. At the moment we profess Christ as Savior and Lord, we are born again. We are created into a new being, and in that being we are made able to know Him and His ways. We are created in Him to do good works and works He has already planned for us. We become Christ’s friends, Christ’s brothers and sisters, joint heirs with Him.

The kingdom of heaven is not the promise of something someday in the distant future—though certainly it holds that promise—but it is also the promise of a day-to-day walk with the Father. He pours out His love and protection, giving us victory over Satan in all ways. We enter into His kingdom, and the gates of hell cannot stand against us. We are overcomers, because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.

The promise of having the kingdom of God is the promise of a dynamic new way of listening and learning and of seeing the world through new eyes. It is the promise that we will never be alone in our life’s journey. Beside us will be our Savior, our Lord, our Friend, our Brother. Jesus has promised that He has all authority in heaven and on earth and that He is with us to the end of the age. That is His promise, and that is our comfort. That is our heaven. That is our kingdom.

Conclusion

There is nothing more frustrating than to love someone who is sick and refuses to go to the doctor. You can see they are in pain and in need of treatment, but they refuse to admit that they are out of their scope of expertise. Someone who things they can treat themselves when it’s clear they need a doctor are exasperating. And yet, there are people like that.

The sick person in need of a doctor can heal much more quickly if they will put themselves in the hands of a competent doctor. And the sinner in need of saving can only find salvation through God in Christ Jesus.

Sadly, we live in a world where thousands of people fail to acknowledge the simple truth that God loves the world so much that He sent Jesus to save us. This free gift of salvation that offers so much more than simply going to heaven is available to any and all. But only the poor in spirit will know this truth. Only they will come to seek this gift. Only they will know what it is to have the kingdom of heaven.