Matthew 5:1-3
Notes
Transcript
Matthew 5:1-3
Today, begins a new year for us, new beginnings, a new start. And I want to live and walk closer to Jesus this year. I pray this is the year for the Lord’s return, but if it isn’t, I pray that we will learn and apply the Bible in our life this year, like never before.
Now to do this, we need to hear from the Master Teacher himself, Jesus Christ. So, we are going to be spending some time hearing him preach to us from Matthew 5, which begins perhaps one of the best known sermons in the Bible, its called the Sermon on the Mount.
Now when the Lord began to preach this sermon, he was primarily sharing it with his disciples. But a large group of people had followed him to this mountain side, and it was like a natural amphitheater, and people were listening to this message. When the Lord preached this message, it was not like anything the people had heard before. Before, they heard men proclaim a message of God, this time, they were hearing God proclaim his message to man, by His Son. And the message was so different to what they had come to know.
The opening of this sermon is quite famous, we know it by the section we call the “Beatitudes”, the attitudes that ought to be, and today we are going to focus on one verse primarily, verse 3.
[Read Scripture] And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2 and he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
A beggar was sitting by the side of the street, when a well to do man walked near him. The beggar asked for any money that the man could spare. “Shame to you for begging and being too lazy to work! Said the well to do man. The beggar answered with complete dignity, “Sir, I asked you for money, not advice.”
When we think of one who is poor, we often think of one who might be homeless, living on the street, holding a street sign asking for help. It moves some of us to be sympathetic to their situation, and for others, we are like the man in the story, who criticize what they are.
I mean, in our society, we are expected to be successful, to have lots of money so we don’t have to worry. To not have to be one of those on the street corner begging for help. So, this makes what Jesus said here in this passage, quite unique. When He says, “blessed are the poor in spirit”.
Remember these are the beatitudes, and He starts off by preaching about being poor in spirit. What is the Lord referring too?
Point 1. The Spiritual Beggar (What does it mean to be poor in spirit?)
- When the Lord is speaking about being poor in spirit, he is not referring to material wealth.
- Your walk with the Lord is not based on your income.
- Now we have a world today that puts the emphasis primarily upon what you have. “Blessed are those that have wealth.” “Blessed are those who have strength.” “Blessed are those who have power.” “Blessed are those that have knowledge.” “Blessed are those that have prestige.” “Blessed are those who have popularity.” You know the big b’s—the bucks, the brains, the beauty, the brawn—those are the things that people think bring happiness.[1]
- The Lord is saying that the one who is poor in spirit is blessed. Now to understand what the Lord is saying, we need to understand that word poor.
- This word for poor is not talking about being poor financially, or having a poor attitude, but instead it is referring to completely destitute, that you have nothing.
- Lazarus at the Rich Man’s gate is a way to understand this. Here was a man that laid at the gate of the rich man with sores covering his body, begging for any help that a person would show to him.
- Now the Lord is saying that we’re to be poor in spirit. That we are spiritually broke! That we are in the realization of our life, that we are dependent on outside help.
- Everyone in this world is spiritually broke, so people are searching someway to sustain their spirit. You know what they do? Well, they go to the Devil’s spiritual finance office. He’s eager to see them, he brings out his contract, and he says he will give them this and this, and all they have to do is sign here. These are the people who are out there in the world right now, thinking they don’t need Jesus, that they are experiencing their heaven right here on earth, but friend, they don’t realize that there is a bill coming due. You might be one of those people right now. You just keep going to devil and he’s eager to satisfy your temptation, but there is a bill that is coming and you’re not going to be able to pay it. But there is another way, when we realize that we are broke, that we have nothing, that we’re dependent on someone else, that we are that beggar on the corner. That is when Jesus comes, and what we need to do is beg to Jesus for help! And friend he will give it to you.
- Listen, you will never be rich, until you become poor. You will never understand the worth of the Lord’s gift on your life, until you realize that you didn’t have anything before. We are Spiritual Beggars.
Point 2. The Spiritual Brokenness (Who were some in the Bible that illustrate being poor in the spirit?)
- Now don’t misunderstand, being a beggar doesn’t mean that a person is broke. I’ve seen some people begging for money, walk to a brand-new car. There was a man in Kentucky who was begging on the streets and he revealed that he was bringing in 60k-100k a year. That doesn’t sound like being broke.
- Well, remember, we aren’t talking about wealth, but the spirit. I believe the Bible teaches us that you can have wealth and be spiritually poor as well. Think about…
- Job; here was a wealthy man, a man who one might say was in the 1% of his time. But he loved the Lord. And what happened to old Job? He lost all of his wealth, and his health, even those who were close to him, like his wife, didn’t give him encouragement, they were just there pointing out faults.
- But Job realized that his happiness didn’t come from stuff and other people, it came from the Lord. He was spiritually poor and depending on God to provide him the happiness he needed in his life.
- Job came to the realization, that he was spiritually poor, and he made the famous remarks, naked I came, and naked I leave, blessed be the name of the Lord.
- Now let me ask you, if you didn’t have what you have right now in life; that nice house, that fancy car, that good paying job, would you be here right now? That’s were you need to get. You need to get to the point in your life, where even if you didn’t have those things and those people around you, that you are just a beggar, that you will find contentment in the Lord.
- Now before you get all highminded, think about how most of us would react. I’ll tell you. We would be like…
- The Rich Young Ruler; many of us know the story. A young wealthy man comes to Jesus, asking what he must do to inherit the kingdom of God. And the Lord tells him to keep the commandments, which he claims he has done, and then the Lord tells him to go and sell all that he has and give it to the poor. And what does the young man do? He walks away grieved because he had much wealth.
- Listen, there are a lot of us who are walking around grieved because we don’t want to be destitute, we want to know where our happiness is coming from, we want control over our spirit.
- But what we must do, is give it all up. We must become spiritually broke that the Lord can manifest himself in our lives. And that’s tough.
- We have to come to the point where we are willing to depart with all the things of this world that is keeping us from being totally dependent on Jesus and what he puts in our cup.
- Paul understood this, a man of influence, a man brought up in the House of the Lord, a man that had what would be today a triple doctorate, come to realize that he was broke spiritually.
- With all that he had, he realized in the end that none of that matter, he was broken. And what did he say about it? Philippians 3:8 “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,”
- Have you come to the point in your walk where everything is rubbish to you except for Christ? Are you spiritually broke right now, that you are depending on Christ? That is what the Lord is saying we need to come to be.
- Why would the Lord want this then?
Point 3. The Spiritual Blessing (Why we need to embrace the message of being poor in the spirit?)
- The Lord promises us a blessing when we are spiritual beggars. Now that sounds like a contradiction to say, that we’re begging and the God is blessing. But that is the wonderful mystery of God.
- He looks at our depravity, and sees that we are helpless without him, and what does he do? He gives us a home to live in.
- Maybe you have seen some of these who are homeless, where a stranger will come up to them and give them something that helps them. It might be a pair of shoes, a shirt or coat, or just something to eat. Those scenes move us to tears, seeing someone in that type of situation and then a person who has a heart to help.
- We don’t look at ourselves as being like that one who is homeless, but in reality, that’s exactly what we are. Until, the Lord came and he met us, he gave us the bread of life to eat, he clothed us with his royal garment, and he gave us a place to live. We didn’t earn that! Jesus gave it to us, because he loved us that much.
- Now when someone who is homeless receives a blessing, they tell the others like them about it. If there is a place to find food, they share it, if there is a place that will help they let others know. Why? Because they were blessed!
- D. T. Niles, the Indian theologian, once defined evangelism as "one hungry beggar telling another hungry beggar where to find bread." When we are grateful enough for the bread that we have received that we are willing to reach out to the lost and hurting and lonely and excluded ones around us, we will discover that we ourselves are being saved.
- Brothers and sisters, Christ wants to bless you today with the kingdom of heaven, but before that happens, you must realize that you are poor, and homeless, that you have nothing and that you need the Lord’s help. You must be poor in spirit, and rely on Jesus and what He provides to you.
Conclusion:
She was beautiful. She was charming. She was gifted. She was the talk of the town—a lovely, gracious, talented girl. She sat at the piano and played. The crowds came and they told her how sweet and how beautiful she was. But there was a preacher there that night. His name was Cesar Millán. And Cesar Millán approached this young lady and said, “You have charm, and you have grace, and you have beauty; but if you don’t get saved; if you don’t see your need and give your heart to Jesus Christ, you’re just as lost as the worst harlot in London.” She was insulted a little bit. She was shocked by the rudeness of this preacher. I think God the Holy Spirit knew what she needed, though, because she went up to her bedroom and tried to sleep. She tried to laugh it off. But she couldn’t laugh it off. And at three AM in the morning, Charlotte Elliott gave her heart to Jesus Christ and was born again. She was the one who wrote a song that we have sung many times: “Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, O lamb of God, I come, I come.” That’s the way she came.
And, friend, that’s the way you’ll come, and that’s the way anybody will come, because it was none less than Jesus Christ who said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” That my, dear friend, is the key to the kingdom.[2]
[1] Rogers, A. (2017). When Bankruptcy Becomes a Blessing. In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Mt 5:1–9). Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.
[2] Rogers, A. (2017). When Bankruptcy Becomes a Blessing. In Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive (Mt 5:1–9). Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.