Sermon Tone Analysis

Poor in Spirit

Foundation - illustration

w/0 foundation there is no building

SF leaning building

Jesus presents for us in Matthew chapter 5 the most profound and at the same time paradoxical teaching on true happiness.

But it's not just a subject among many, it's foundational to all His teaching and it's foundational to entrance into His kingdom.

God wants us happy.

Jesus starts with these Beatitudes, they're called.

Each one begins with the word "blessed" which is just another word for happiness.

Everyone needs to hear that God wants to bring to us true happiness, true blessedness.

And the question is...how do you find that?

And the Beatitudes indicate to us that it really is opposite what the world would assume.

Blessed are the poor...the world would say blessed are the rich.

Blessed are those who mourn...the world would say blessed are those who laugh.

Blessed are the gentle, or the meek...the world would say blessed are the proud and the confident.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst...the world would say blessed are those who don't hunger and don't thirst cause they have everything.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Now we want to answer a few questions that will be posed and that will take us through the meaning of the beatitude.

I The Start “Poor in Spirit”

I mean, this is the first recorded sermon of Jesus.

This is how He inaugurates His unfolding teaching throughout the New Testament.

It begins with these first things, and this first statement, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

This is the first real instruction Jesus gave in the New Testament, the first gospel, the gospel of Matthew, first recorded sermon of Jesus, first statement, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

And it's fair to ask...why does He start here?

Because it is the fundamental characteristic of the Christian.

It is the fundamental characteristic of the citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

You cannot enter My kingdom, you cannot be happy until you realize your bankruptcy, your poverty.

This is very important stuff to the Jews who are very proud about their religious achievements, very proud about their ceremonial accomplishments, very proud about the sacrifices they had offered to God, very proud about their zeal for the law, very proud about their circumcision, very proud about their identification with the covenant people Israel, very proud about their self-righteousness.

They were self-confident.

They were self-important.

If you're going to enter the kingdom and find true happiness, you've got to recognize that you have absolutely nothing, you are bankrupt.

Isaiah said it of Christ and Christ reiterated it.

,

Until someone is poor in spirit, Christ is never seen for what He really is.

He's never precious.

Before you can see how bankrupt you are, you can't understand how valuable Christ is.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me."

Jesus repeated it in Luke's gospel.

"He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted."

Everything begins with brokenheartedness.

Until someone is poor in spirit, Christ is never seen for what He really is.

He's never precious.

Before you can see how bankrupt you are, you can't understand how valuable Christ is.

He who sees himself clothed in filthy rags can appreciate the robe of righteousness that Christ breaks.

Until you're poor, you can't be rich.

Until you're a fool, you can't become wise.

Until you lose your life, you can't save it.

Jesus often said such paradoxical things.

key - And why is this first?

Because inevitably what prevents people from entering into the kingdom is pride.

And at the very start pride must be broken.

says, "Cursed are the proud."

These things God hates, a proud heart...at the top of the list.

prov 6.16

II The Meaning of “Poor in Spirit”

pro 34.18

What is He saying in specific?

Or to put it another way, what kind of poverty is He talking about?

Well, let me say, first of all, that He's not talking about material poverty.

And there are a lot of people who want to sort of make the Sermon on the Mount into a nice little warm and fuzzy ethical standard and they want to quote it, "Blessed are the poor

So what is this poor in spirit?

It is the Greek term ptochos and it comes from the verb ptosso.

Ptochosmeans to cower and cringe like a beggar.

It's a beggar, somebody with no wealth, no influence, no position, no honor, no respect, in some cases possessing nothing but the ragged clothes they wear, a real beggar here.

Typically in the ancient world it would so humiliate a man to be a beggar that he would crouch, cover his face with a garment, holding out his hand, ashamed to let even the giver know his identity.

That's the word Jesus used.

You want to enter His kingdom?

That's where you start.

This is the true diagnosis of man.

And it's only when you recognize it that you become a candidate for entrance into God's kingdom of happiness.

When you see yourself as empty, poor, helpless, bankrupt, you can't contribute one single solitary thing to your salvation,

You need mercy.

You need grace from an outside source, from God Himself because you can bring nothing, you are destitute, beggarly, helplessly dependent.

What is Jesus saying then?

Happy are the destitute, happy are the beggarly, happy are the hopelessly dependent, happy are the people who have nothing and can earn nothing.

Let me tell you, folks, that's shocking stuff because it just goes right against the grain of everything the world assumes to be true.

This is the first message Jesus wanted to give to sinners, recognize your condition of spiritual bankruptcy.

And He gave it to people who thought they were spiritually rich.

These Jews who thought they had attained salvation by their own self-righteousness.

puts it this way, "The Lord is near to those who are of a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite spirit."

Same thing.

Who does He save?

Those who know they're nothing.

Those who are broken.

says it again, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise."

You see, the key to blessing and the key to happiness is always unworthiness.

Think about Moses who felt deeply unworthy for the task, you remember, God told him to lead the people and he said, "I can't lead the people, I have a spe..spe...spe, I can't da..da..da, I stutter."

God says to him, "Who made your mouth?"

He was so conscious of his inadequacy, so conscious of his insufficiency.

In the New Testament we see it in Peter, aggressive, self-assertive, confident by nature, but devastated in the presence of the Lord and saying to Him, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man."

Get out of my presence, it's too intimidating.

The apostle Paul knew in his flesh was no good thing.

He was the chief of sinners, he says.

He was a blasphemer.

He was a persecutor.

Everything he ever was and everything he'd ever achieved was dung, manure.

So, the sum of this great truth is simply stated.

The first principle of entrance into the kingdom is to recognize that you can't enter, you're not capable...you're not capable.

That's where you have to start.

And there were some people in Israel who got the message.