Sermon Tone Analysis

*Beatitudes*

*The Poor in Spirit and Mourners*

*Matthew 5:3-4*

* *

 

Last week we discussed how the Beatitudes describe the character of the ideal disciple—that Jesus was revealing how He wanted His followers to be.

Some have taught that they create a standard that none can attain.

I believe that to be false.

In fact, I have come to believe that this is a standard of character that a disciple of Christ /must/ attain.

On the other hand, in order to attain to this standard, everyone needs help.

We cannot do it alone.

Martin Lloyd-Jones is quoted as saying:

 

/No man can live the Sermon on the Mount in and of himself, and unaided…there is nothing that leads to the gospel and its grace as the Sermon on the Mount.

/(Carson, p.92)

 

Today we will be looking at the two negative Beatitudes, poor in spirit and mourning.

* *

*The Meaning of Poor in Spirit*

 

* Poor—abject poverty.

The word used here, /ptochos/, means “lives not by his own labor or industry, but on other men’s alms,” that is, having nothing at all.

This is against another word for poor, /petes//, /which means having only the barest minimum but nothing more.

It is the difference between the homeless and someone who lives in a shack.

* Spirit—Intellect, emotions, and will.

For the unregenerate the spirit is dead and incapable of relating to God.

For the children of the second birth, their spirits have been made alive together with Christ and they do relate to God.

* Poor in spirit—deals with those people who recognize that they bring nothing to the relationship they now have with God—it all comes from Him. 

     

How is our spiritual poverty played out?

First, in humility—if you wish to have a synonym for poor in spirit, this word best performs that role.

Second, unpretentiousness—not self important.

People who are poor in spirit, see themselves as they really are.

Third, dependence

 

*For Their’s is the Kingdom of Heaven*

 

John Stott wrote this about the kingdom of heaven belonging to the poor in spirit:

 

/The kingdom is given to the poor, not the rich; the feeble, not the mighty; to the 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; nor 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.

/(Stott, p. 40)

 

*How Jesus Exemplifies Poverty of Spirit*

* *

Jesus was poor in spirit in the sense that of all people He was the most humble.

It is His example that encourages us to consider others more important than ourselves.

Here’s what Paul wrote to the Philippians:

 

/Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

Being found in appearance as a man He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

/2:5-8

 

John 17:7:  /Now they have come to know that everything You have given me is from You./

 

1 Cor.

8:9, /For// you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich./

/ /

Jesus came from the glory of heaven and humbled himself as a man,

Once He created world in all its complexity,

Later He cobbled together tables and chairs.

Once He bedecked the heavens with stars,

Later He gloried in their beauty as a man.

Once He set the planets on their paths,

Later He labored up the paths to Golgotha.

Once He had perfect communion with the Father in ineffable glory;

Later He died forsaken by all.

JESUS IS OUR SUPREME EXAMPLE OF POVERTY OF SPIRIT

 

*Contrast this with the spirit of the Jewish leaders*

* *

Listen to how Jesus referred to them.

[go through the Sermon on the Mount regarding piety]  6:1ff.

*How to become poor in spirit*

 

It is a joint effort—you and the Holy Spirit.

[humble yourself, see 1 Peter 5:5-6; and it is God who is at work in you to work and to will for His good pleasure, Phil 2:1-5,12-13]

 

1) Learn about God and man—Study scripture.

Have a theological basis for your understanding of your spiritual poverty.

The motto of the poor in spirit is, “God is rich, I am poor.”

2) Pray—John MacArthur once said, “Beggars are always begging.” 

3) Serve others—1 Peter 4:10-11.

It was after the disciples were arguing who would be greatest in heaven when Jesus wrapped Himself in a towel and began washing their feet.

Often you become something by doing it.

Warren Wiersbe used to say, “Sew a thought, reap an action; sew an action, reap a habit; sew a habit, reap a character; sew a character, reap a destiny.”

*Mourn*

* *

*The meaning of mourning*

* *

/Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

/Matthew 5:4

 

One pastor (Warren Wiersbe) used to say, “You can tell a man by what makes him laugh and what makes him cry.”

The word we translate /mourn/ here is pentheo and it means to be grief-stricken.

The question is, grief-stricken over what?

The /mourning /spoken of in this verse refers to that characteristic of a disciple that causes him to grieve for sins and seek repentance.

It is this characteristic that *facilitates the disciple to be an ideal* *disciple*—because it provides for our failure.

Without this beatitude we might consider the character traits as unachievable platitudes that are nice to consider but too difficult to attain, so why try.

Mourning also prevents a *light hearted view of sin.

*It instead results in a contrite heart.

I had a friend who felt that his Catholic faith was the superior because it permitted him to live as he pleases Monday through Saturday because he could confess his sins on Sunday and make it all right.

In his faith there was no inkling of contrition.

As Stott says, “Confession is one thing, contrition is another…there are such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep them.”

(p.

41)

 

Listen to what David wrote in grief over his sin with Bathsheba:

 

/O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger.

For Your arrows have sunk deep into me, and Your hand has pressed down on me.

There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.

For my iniquities are gone over my head; as a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.

My wounds grow foul and fester because of my folly.

I am bent over and greatly bowed down; I go mourning all day long.

/Psalm 38:1-6

 

Let me say this before I go on—there may be some that here that suffer from *clinical depression*.

Do not construe what I say here to be addressing your condition.

You should always seek the aid of a skilled professional to help you interpret and understand what is going on within you.

/ /

2) That Christ should suffer and die for us.

In Jn 16:20 after Jesus had disclosed that He would suffer and die and be taken away prophesied as follows:

/ /

/Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy./

/ /

3) For the suffering around us.

 

Are we mourning people?

Or are we a people that walk around blissfully ignorant of the sorrow all about us.

Not that we shouldn’t have a spirit of joy, as well.