BEATITUDES SERIES:
POOR IN SPIRIT
MATTHEW 5:3
#Beatitudes
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO BE “POOR IN SPIRIT?”
EXAMPLE IN ISAIAH 6
READ Isaiah 6:1-5
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory." 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
The prophet Isaiah has a vision that he records where he encounters God… the King… the Lord Almighty. Isaiah sees the throne room of God and the awesomeness that happens there. God’s glory fills the throne room. He glimpses angels constantly flying around God calling out how holy and wonderful God is. There is shaking and power flowing from the angels singing and God sitting on the throne.
You see, Isaiah encounters God and what we see is someone poor in spirit which is the main thought we have for today in our time in the Word. The reaction of Isaiah is being poor in spirit. Isaiah understands his sinfulness especially when compared to the Almighty God who is perfect, holy, and completely righteous. Isaiah feels as though he will melt away because he is in the presence of a mighty and holy God. That is being poor in spirit. Isaiah feels his inadequacy when he compares himself to God. Isaiah understand his place in the whole order of creation and understands God’s place in the whole order of creation. That is part of what it means to be “poor in spirit.”
READ MATTHEW 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
BLESSED
The word “blessed” in this sentence is a particular word that means “happy” or “joy from a divine source.” I like to think of it as “a state of being where I am exactly where God wants me to be and therefore my heart is in the right place.” As we move through this series on the beatitudes, we are going to be discussing ways of living our lives and where we want our hearts to end up. When our hearts end up (“fill in the blank”) you and I will be the kind of people we want to be… but more importantly we will be the kind of people that God wants us to be. Each of these beatitudes is about our hearts and attitudes and motivations. I don’t know about you, but I often need to check my heart and my attitudes because I find myself with sinful attitudes.
A sinful heart means I treat others poorly.
A sinful attitude means I think about relationships or issues in a wrong way and say the wrong thing.
A sinful heart means I think about myself in a wrong way.
It is my hope in this series of sermons on the Beatitudes that you and I end up in a place where our hearts and attitudes are right/correct before God. The end result will be righteous hearts before the Lord and we will live blessed lives because we have joy from above. I am hoping that for me. I am praying for that for you.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO BE “POOR IN SPIRIT?”
EXAMPLE IN LUKE 5
READ Luke 5:1-8
One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around Him and listening to the word of God, 2 He saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." 5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets." 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!
I think describing being “poor in spirit” is a hard thing to do which is why seeing someone who is exhibiting those qualities is important to notice. Here again we have an example of being “poor in spirit” just like we did with Isaiah. I think we see an example of being poor in spirit in two ways in this passage.
First, Peter says to Jesus in verse 5, “But because You say so.” That is significant. In Peter’s experience as a fisherman there was no need to do more fishing… the fish didn’t want to be caught. In my experience, no fish ever wants to get caught ever no matter the magic trick or bait or fancy lure. That’s just me. Peter had not caught fish and yet Peter acted in obedience which went against all of his instincts as a fisherman.
Part of being “poor in spirit” is obedience and yielding to the authority of God.
Part of being “poor in spirit” is obedience and yielding to the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Part of being “poor in spirit” is obedience and yielding to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Being poor in spirit means we understand that God’s ways are above our ways and we are under His leadership. We see that played out practically in this passage in the life of Peter.
Second, we see Peter acting much like Isaiah did in Isaiah 6. Isaiah has a vision of the Almighty God in His thunderous glory. Peter comes face-to-face with a miracle done by God-with-us (Jesus) and he feels so inadequate. He feels small. He feels sinful. I want you to please notice that Peter does not feel inadequate or small or sinful compared to the other people around him… no… he feels this way when he compares himself to Jesus Christ the Son of God. The miracle enables him to realize that he is unworthy of being in the service of Jesus. He feels less. He feels small.
SIDE NOTE: If I might make a side note here, you and I who are believers in Jesus Christ are sons and daughters of the Most High God. We will be with Him forever in Heaven. He loves us with the intensity of Creation. He sacrifices for us with the intensity of death. Please find your worth and your value and your validation in the eyes of God the Father. Don’t let anyone make you feel like you are less-than because of how they treat you or what words they say to you or about you. You are a child of God. Our sin and mistakes do not define us. Our God defines our worth in spite of our sin… every… single… time. Hold that head high and find worth in the sight of God our Redeemer. And yet, bow that head low when in God’s presence because He is Who we bow to and it is His opinion that matters.
Anyway, Simon Peter encounters Jesus and what we see is someone poor in spirit. The reaction of Peter is being poor in spirit. I cannot help but think of the words “humble obedience” that help us describe being poor in spirit. We certainly see that Peter is aware of his sinfulness, we see that in verse 8. This is similar to Isaiah. What I think is important in this passage is the humble obedience brought on by the awareness of who we are as compared to the righteous holy God.
READ MATTHEW 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
POOR IN SPIRIT
I have been thinking about this and doing some reading. Some Christian authors say that being “poor in spirit” is not something that we can learn to do or just decide to become. Some say it is more of an experience. Both Isaiah and Peter did have an experience.
There is not a coupon to become poor in spirit or three easy steps. I think that is because poverty of spirit comes from seeing ourselves in the light of God and understanding that we cannot compare ourselves to others. We must only measure our character or actions or faithfulness or righteousness on God’s terms and not other people.
* Poverty of spirit is the opposite of pride.
* Poverty of spirit is the opposite of comparing ourselves to others.
* Poverty of spirit is the opposite of measuring our spirituality to others.
I am pretty sure that poverty of spirit comes from having an experience with God where we understand who He is and we understand who we are… this creates a humbleness. This creates rightness before God. This also then brings a joy into our lives because we know who we are in light of who God is.
Perhaps you have never had an experience like that. My suggestion is that you ask God to give you eyes of faith to see when such an experience is happening and ask Him to mold your heart in the correct ways because of it.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO BE “POOR IN SPIRIT?”
EXAMPLE IN LUKE 18
READ Luke 18:11-14
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men-- robbers, evildoers, adulterers-- or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
I love this parable from Jesus. Jesus tells this parable because in verse 9 it says “some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else.” I think we’ve already figured out that being confident in our own righteousness and looking down on others is not only NOT being poor in spirit, but it also means you are a jerk.
The person in this parable who we would say is poor in spirit is the tax collector and not the Pharisee. A tax collector for the Jewish folks of Jesus’ time was a traitor for Rome who cheated fellow Jews out of tax money. A Pharisee for the Jewish folks of Jesus’ time was a high-ranking religious official who led worship and made the moral rules. Honestly, I would expect that it would be the Pharisee who was poor in spirit… doesn’t the religious leader know God the most and serve Him the best? Not always. Wouldn’t the Pharisee or other Teacher of the Law have a closer humbler walk with God? Not always.
Jesus’ parable points out for us that the heart of a person matters. The tax collector was humble. The tax collector understood his place in the order of the world and God’s place in the order of his life. I don’t want you to think that Jesus excused the cheating nature of the tax collector, but I do think Jesus told the parable in this way because only one of the men in the parable is on the right track. Both are sinful, but only one went away justified according to Jesus Christ.
Justified. Justified is an interesting word. Justification means complete forgiveness of sins and a genuine clean slate with the Creator of the Universe. Justification brings joy. Justification brings blessedness. Justification brings happiness. Justification brings the knowledge that you are forgiven by God the Father through Jesus Christ and you live life in the power of the Holy Spirit.
READ MATTHEW 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
Only those who are poor in spirit will ever enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In just a few verses from this one, Jesus says (5:20): “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Only those who encounter Jesus Christ and accept Him as Lord and Savior and take their place under His teachings will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Being nice won’t get you there.
Being a good person won’t get you there.
Being moral won’t get you there.
Being a church goer won’t get you there.
There will be a lot of nice good moral church goers in hell.
Those who have heard the Gospel and responded with a humble heart and those who are truly poor in spirit because we recognize our spiritual bankruptcy before God and we need Him to save us. We are on our knees with nothing to offer to God. God you do it. God you save. God you give mercy.
And THAT is the beginning of being poor in spirit and entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
SUMMARY / APPLICATION
So what do we do with this passage that encourages us to be “poor in spirit?” I think if you think you are poor in spirit you probably aren’t. I don’t think there are 3 easy steps to poverty of spirit which then makes you a better person. The Bible is not a self-help self-improvement guide. What do we do with this?
I am still thinking about this, but I do not think being poor in spirit is anything we can accomplish on our own. Being poor in spirit is not a good work or a fruit of the spirit. Poverty of Spirit is a state of being and a heart attitude and a way of thinking. So what do we do?
Pray that we would understand our place in God’s order and obediently take our place.
Pray for humility to understand our sinfulness and what Jesus has done for us.
Pray that we stay in step with the Holy Spirit and ask the Holy Spirit to mold our hearts to understand who we are.
PRESENTATION OF THE GOSPEL
This morning as we close, I want to make sure that I share the Gospel message with you. It happens to be July 4th weekend and so here in the USA we celebrate our nation and freedom. Our nation is blessed with much freedom.
I want you to know that at the center of the Gospel Message is also freedom. Jesus Christ came and offered Himself freely so that you and I could have the freedom to have a relationship with God. A lot of times when we talk about the Gospel Message we think about all the “stuff” we get because of Jesus… forgiveness, grace, mercy, entrance into Heaven… and all of that is true. But more basic and more true is that Jesus Christ provides the only way for us to have an intimate personal relationship with the Creator.
Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”
We are free to love God because of Jesus.
We are freed from our sin to love God because of Jesus.
The Gospel is about freedom.
CLOSE IN PRAYER
INVITATION
