Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
When it comes to financial prosperity, most of us live in the middle ground.
We cannot sympathize with the super-wealthy (like the Astors who built The Breakers as a summer home in Newport)
We cannot sympathize with the super-impoverished (like children playing soccer in a literal dump that they also call home)
Generally speaking, we have what we need, and much of what we want.
So when we read passages in the Bible that talk about poverty we have an interesting reaction: we struggle to understand what they mean and how they apply, while we also recoil from what the imply.
Transition
We have long recognized that poverty is a social ill to be eradicated, not embraced, and neither I, nor Jesus, would contradict that; the idea is based on solid biblical and christo-philosophical grounds.
That said, Jesus as He begins His list of better attitudes for a better life, began with being poor.
Illumination
A Definition of Poor
Poor is the state of being unable to possess or provide the necessities of life.
Most of us have no real acquaintance with this
A Deterrent to Poor Judgment
There are a few things that Jesus is NOT telling us here
He is not telling us to be physically poor
Poor is not being able to possess or provide the necessities of life and we are instructed to provide for our own as a faithful part of being a believer.
Selling everything you have and adopting and ascetic or monastic lifestyle is not what Jesus intended.
He is not telling us to be spiritually poor
To be spiritually poor is to be unable to possess or provide the spiritual necessities of life.
More of us are here than we would care to admit, but Jesus does not want us to be here; it is actually counter to His instruction.
What things could we “give up” that would make us spiritually poor?
A Decision to Trust
Knowing what it is to be poor and armed with the knowledge of what Jesus was not saying, we are better equipped to process what He was saying.
These beatitudes are better attitudes for living a better life, the attitude for us to adopt here is two-fold:
Simplicity - Not providing or possessing everything we imagine we might want is an element of what Jesus taught.
Wealth runs counter to true spirituality, primarily by reinforcing the notion that we don’t need God. which brings us to the real point.
Dependence - Develop the understanding that every need we have is met by our Heavenly Father.
The resources we have were given to us by God.
We sense this in the really big things in life, the really little things in life, and the really deep things in life, but we need to recognize it in everything in life.
Conclusion
Those who adopt the attitude of being poor in spirit will be rewarded with the kingdom of Heaven.
What does that look like?
By adopting the attitude of poor in spirit, we align ourselves with God’s plan to give us greater wealth than we can readily conceive.
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