Tonight we look at the first of the beatitudes. READ Matthew 5: 1-3. For the next 8 weeks we’re going to be talking about the Christian attitude. When I think of how a true Christian should act I think of Philippians 2:5 – “Your attitude should be the same as Christ.” A person’s attitude determines their altitude. Spiritually speaking, your attitude determines the depth of your faith and how passionate you are about your convictions.
Twin boys were giving their mother fits because one was an optimist while the other was a pessimist. At her wits end, she took them to the doctor desperate for help. The doctor had a plan that put the pessimist in a room with everything he could wish for and the optimist in a stall of horse manure. At the end of the day he was certain both would be cured. But when he checked on the pessimist, instead of enjoying the toys, the boy was crying because he knew he wouldn’t be able to take the toys home. Then, when they got to the stall, they found the optimist covered with mature, slinging it and yelling in excitement – “With all this manure, there’s got to be a pony in here somewhere!”
Our attitude determines our altitude. In Mt. 5, Jesus speaks to the issue of attitude in the greatest sermon ever preached – the Sermon on the Mount. He offered (8) attitudes (beatitudes) that every Christian is called to possess as a child of the Kingdom. The first (4) focus on our relationship with God, while the second (4) focus on our relationship with one another. (By the way, that’s the same pattern of the 10 commandments, and the same pattern of Jesus’ 2 extra commandments.)
Concerning our church covenant, we need to have the right attitude as we approach it. Without the right attitude, we might not take the covenant seriously. And we do take the church covenant very seriously.
You might have noticed that each of the 8 beatitudes begins with the word “blessed.” In fact, God makes a promise that those who possess the beatitudes will be blessed. Let’s first look at that promise.
The word “Blessed” literally means fortunate and happy. Typically we think of happiness as an experience of elation when things around us make us feel that way, but this in not what Jesus was saying. The Greek word used for “blessed” means to have an inward contentedness unaffected by surrounding circumstances. It means God looks at you individually and you have been approved by God.
Max Lucado says, “To be blessed is to receive the Applause of Heaven.”
Here is how the beatitudes work. First, we recognize we’re in need (poor in spirit). Next, we repent of our self-sufficiency (mourn). We quit calling the shots and surrender control to God (meek). So grateful are we for His presence that we yearn for more of Him (hunger and thirst). As we grow closer to Him, we become more like Him. We forgive others (merciful). We change our outlook (pure in heart). We love others (peacemakers). We endure injustice (persecuted). And in so doing, we receive the applause of Heaven.
We need to realize the beatitudes are essential elements Christians must have to have a balanced, healthy Christian life. We need to live by these beatitudes and exemplify them in our daily living. When we do, we are promised God’s approval.
But do you really want God’s approval and blessing more than anything else?
Let’s look at the first attitude Jesus said we must possess to be blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Mt. 5:3
The word “poor” is a reference to a destitute beggar. It’s someone who has absolutely nothing and is an outcast to society. It’s one who has a hand out for alms while the other hand covers his face because of shame.
In the Greek, there are two words for begging. The woman who brought Jesus the two coins in Luke 21 was one type of poor. She was poor, but she wasn’t a beggar – she had some meager resources. But one who is poor as Jesus uses the term in Matt. 5:3 has nothing and is completely dependent upon others for support. Now Jesus is speaking to our spiritual need – we are all destitute before God and in need of God’s help to experience forgiveness and eternal life.
When you realize that you are “poor in spirit,” you recognize how spiritually destitute and utterly dependent you are upon God. It’s to understand that we have no saving resources and that we can only beg for His mercy and grace because we are spiritually destitute. It’s to consciously confess how unworthy we are to God because we realize we’ve missed the mark and fallen short of God’s perfect standard. In other words, we’re sinners.
Can you see it? It is when we are poor in spirit that we realize and admit that we are sinners. Here’s the struggle – most people are full of themselves and refuse to recognize their destitution before God. Their ego is too proud to humble themselves before God because they think that they have within themselves the ability to please Him and earn His blessing – if they think they need Him at all. Yet here, in Jesus’ first point, He says, “No man can earn favor with God because he is a blind, resource-less beggar in need of divine intervention. He is hopeless and helpless – and that void can only be filled by God’s love and grace.
We have to realize that we cannot be filled unless we are empty! Are you empty? Or are you full of yourself? What’s your attitude? Jesus says you must be poor in spirit to blessed with the Kingdom of God.
So how do we respond? The first thing we have to do is admit our need for God. The first thing that must occur if we are to find the kingdom of God is we must admit to God we are hopeless and helpless and in need of assistance. We must come to the point in our lives when we realize our necessity for God.
We have to realize we have nothing to offer, nothing to plead, and nothing to purchase the favor and forgiveness of God with. And then we have to admit that nothing in this world can fill our spiritual need.
External things cannot satisfy internal needs. Physical things simply cannot touch the soul. Likewise, spiritual things cannot satisfy physical needs. When someone is hungry he needs food, not a lecture on grace. When he is hurt he needs medical attention, not moral advice. To be poor in spirit is to understand the helpless condition of our souls and to realize that only God can help. When I say we need to be poor I mean we need to acknowledge our spiritual poverty and bankruptcy before God and accept that we’re sinners who stand condemned before Him.
This is the language of the poor in spirit. We don’t belong anywhere except beside the man in Jesus’ parable, crying out with downcast eyes, “God be merciful to me a sinner!” All we can do is plead guilty before God that we’re sinners in need of help. So we must realize our condition and admit our need.
The good news is that while we’re sinner condemned, God has provided a means to forgive us our sins. And if we will turn and trust, he will forgive. “For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself, it is the free gift of God not of works, so that no man may boast.” Eph. 2:8-9
The grace of God is that He gave His only Son to die on a cross to take away our sins and to bring us into a relationship with Him. We don’t have to understand all of it – we simply need to admit to God our need and to allow Him to solve our problem through Jesus. We must turn to Christ and trust his grace.
A grandpa was walking by his granddaughter’s room one night when he saw her kneeling beside her bed, hands folded, repeating the alphabet. "What are you doing?" he asked. She replied, "I’m saying my prayers, but I couldn’t think of what to say. So I’m just saying all the letters of the alphabet and allowing God to put them together however He thinks best."
When we turn to Christ we’re saying to God, “I don’t understand it or know it all, but I know you do. So I’m just going to do what I know and trust you to work it out in me. God knows that we are sinners in need of saving so in His great mercy He sent His only Son to die for our sins. He made it possible.
You might remember the story of the Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19. This man thought he could enter the kingdom based own his on merit and strength, but he was wrong. So he asked Jesus, “What must I do?” But instead of asking for help, the man grabs a pencil and paper and asks for a list. Isn’t that what we do? God tell me what I’ve got to do for you to bless me and I’ll do it if the package is sweet enough or if it is worth my while.
I like the way Max Lucado said it, “You don’t impress the officials of NASA with a paper airplane. You don’t boast about your crayon sketches in the presence of Picasso. You don’t claim equality with Einstein because you can write H20. And you don’t boast about your goodness in the presence of the perfect.”
God set the standard and made a single provision of grace in Jesus. If a person wants to enter God’s kingdom it’s only possible by turning to Christ alone.
The next thing we need to do is RECEIVE God’s Provision.
A little boy went to the Washington Monument and noticed a guard standing by it. The boy told the guard he wanted to buy the monument. The guard stooped down and said, "How much do you have?" The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out 25 cents. The guard said, "That’s not enough."
The boy replied, "I thought you would say that." So he pulled out 9 cents more. The guard looked down at the boy and said, "You need to understand (3) things. First, 34 cents isn’t enough, $34 million isn’t enough to buy it. Second, the Washington Monument isn’t for sale. And third, if you’re an American citizen, the Monument already belongs to you." With regard to God’s grace, we need to understand (3) things about forgiveness. First, we can’t earn it. Second, it’s not for sale. And third, if we accept Christ, we already have it.
Listen to John 1: 10-13. “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Note: There are 3 important verbs in these verses – RECEIVE, BELIEVE, BECOME. We must believe that Jesus is who He claimed to be and receive Him into our lives by faith which results in becoming a child of God.
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Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus started His great sermon with the only key to eternity. He says that if we will humble ourselves and realize that we are poor in spirit, turn to Christ alone and receive God’s grace, then we can be made alive in Christ – we can inherit the kingdom.
This evening, you may have come to church for the first time ever or the first time in years. You might be here because a friend or family member invited you. For that matter, you may have been raised in church and you’re here every Sunday, but that doesn’t mean you’ve ever come to the point that you’ve admitted to God you’re poor in spirit.
But let me assure, you’re not here by chance, you’re here by divine design and God wants you to take full consideration about the condition of your life. See, God knows your fine print – whether or not your faith is real or just a crutch or habit. The question is whether you will be honest with yourself and with God who is convicting you at this very moment.
I want you to understand that on an old rugged cross some 2000 years ago God spread His arms and was crucified to bring you into a relationship with Him. He offers you a pardon and makes it possible for you to have forgiveness instead of punishment. Today He wants to wipe the slate clean and give you a new life in Christ. But you have to receive it.
Let me close with this story: Around 1830, a man named George Wilson killed a government employee who caught him in the act of robbing the mail. He was tried and sentenced to be hanged. However, President A. Jackson sent him a pardon. But Wilson did a strange thing. He refused the pardon and no one knew what to do. So the case was carried to the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Marshall wrote the opinion. In it he said, "A pardon is a slip of paper, the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged." And he was. NOW WHY DO I END WITH THAT STORY?
There are (3) kinds of people here this evening –
(1) those who know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have truly had your sins forgiven and you have surrendered your life to Christ.
(2) Those who have gone through the motions of salvation, but because of the condition of your life you have great doubt about whether or not you are truly saved. And
(3) those who know that if you were to die right now that you would spend eternity in hell separated from God.
If God is convicting you at this moment, He is calling you to admit your need, turn to Christ alone, and receive His provision of grace.
See it doesn’t matter if your billboard reads, “Churchgoer, choir member, Deacon, Bible Study leader, or church member – it only matters that it says, “poor in spirit and redeemed by the blood of the lamb.” If God is convicting you, will you step out and trust in Him today.
