Blessed are the poor in Spirit

I am a guy. I have to admit that. It may be obvious, but I also think like a guy. Especially in the area of knowing where I am going. I know there are a lot of jokes about guys getting lost and not asking for directions. But it is true. Many of us don’t, and those who won’t admit it are, well, covering up!

There was one time I was so turned around that I actually didn’t know where I was. I pride myself (ashamedly) on always knowing where I am. I may not be where I want to be, but I know where I am in relation to where I should be. This time I wasn’t. I was lost. I was driving with my family in a snow storm in Alberta and I was lost. Each road looked the same, each sign was covered in snow, each and everything looked the same. Admit it? NO! Keep going. Fortunately, very fortunately I came across a sign which wasn’t covered with snow and was able to then know where I was and how to get home. I was going in the complete opposite direction of where I wanted to be –where I needed to be. I turned around and made my way back to where I had to go.

Each of us is headed in the wrong direction in life. We are headed away from God. We may not know it, we may not want to admit it. For many of us, somewhere along the way someone has shown us the right way, the way to get back to God. Others, it has been a sign, or direction that has helped us. For others, maybe a map –the Bible, has helped us get turned around to head toward God.

God has put along the road of our life these signs, these maps, these people to help get us in the right direction. The problem with many of us is that we plough ahead ignoring these signs, not asking directions or not looking at the map. And we head further and further away from our destination –God.

And along comes someone who is the ultimate authority on directions, he wrote the book, the map, he put the signs up and he even stands on the side of the road of life saying, ”Here I am, let me help you find your way to God. “The beatitude are one of the best know passages of the Bible. They come at the very beginning of a long message or collection of says by Jesus known as the “sermon on the mount.” This sermon is a mop on how to get closer to God, how to grow in our faith, how to get on the right track. It is not always easy, in fact, some of the journey may be quite difficult. But it is entirely doable –especially since when we turn around and head the right way, God gives us a GPS –the Holy Spirit, complete with manual, the Bible, to help guide us.

We read in Matthew 4 that Jesus had been travelling throughout the area and that he had gained quite a following. People were coming to him for healing, freedom and to hear him teach. We read in Matthew 4 that the message of Jesus was quite simple –“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (17). This is important for us before we come to the sermon on the mount. This is the signpost, the directions we need, “Repent.”

Repent is a powerful word in directions, in the pat of life. It means, turn around and head the right way. You are going the wrong way! Turn around. If you want to get to God if you want what your heart desires, turn around! The kingdom of heaven is at hand –But you have to turn around. Admit you are going the wrong way and turn around! This, we read, was what Jesus began to preach at the start of his ministry and throughout.

And Jesus got quite a following because of his teaching and his ministry. Much the same as would attract people to him today. I read in an article recently how people are not very interested in religion BUT they are very interested in knowing about Jesus.

And so they come to hear Jesus. He has been going through the countryside for quite some time and has gained a reputation. We read in Chapter 4 that Jesus has already called his disciples Peter, Andrew, James and John. Jesus has been teaching, healing the sick and casting out demons. 4:23. News spread and people from as far north as Syria and as far south as Judea were coming to see, hear and be ministered too.

But Jesus wasn’t really interested in attracting large crowds or having a big following. He was interested in getting people headed in the right direction, but not in gathering a crowd. He wanted them to have the right directions –and he gave them, even if the directions were difficult. In fact, we read several times that Jesus left the crowds and even discouraged people from following him. For example in John 6 Jesus gives a series of hard teachings and we read that many disciples (people who had committed to follow him) turned back and no longer followed. (vs 66)

And we see here, in the sermon on the mount that Jesus does not hold back. In this first recorded long teaching of Jesus in Matthew we find that he start off right away with a very hard teaching. You are going the wrong way! In fact it is perhaps the hardest for us to hear because we do not like to hear things like this –especially about ourselves. Jesus says, you re so lost, you’ll never get to heaven unless…

Let’s stand and read these first few verses of the sermon in what are known as the beatitudes.

Verses 1-5. Pray

Last week we looked at the idea of blessed which is used at the beginning of each of the beatitudes. The idea of blessed is that in the circumstances of life –the good and bad, we are given the opportunity to draw closer to God. As we make that journey, there will be hills and valleys, there will be some car breakdowns, some gas stops, some deep potholes. In fact there may even seem to be a bridge out. But know this –God want you to trust him and get closer to Him. God wants you to make it closer to Him. And in drawing closer to God we find joy, blessing, peace, strength and comfort. Jesus is speaking to a people –the Jews, who understand this. Problems, or as James calls them in His letter, trials, will come in life. The question is, “do you see them as an opportunity to trust God more –to grow in Him?” (James 1:2-4)

On the surface, the beatitudes seem to be a nice comforting bit of teaching. I have seen it portrayed in some movies where Jesus gently smiles and touches a poor woman as he says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” And then she smiles a small, hopeful smile as if to say, thank you for giving me this hope. Sometimes I have even heard it shorted to simply, blessed are the poor…” St. Francis of Assisi is reputed to have taken it this way when he gave up all his possessions in order to draw closer to God. In fact, this was the exact illustration used by another church pastor in a message given during lent one year when I was in Alberta. And there is some further teaching about this by Jesus –But is that what he means here? Is it meant to comfort?

Well, Yes. But even more it is meant to challenge. As mentioned, Jesus often gave some pretty hard teachings –even in the next few chapters of this sermon, and when we look closely at this we find it is perhaps one of the hardest teachings, and the most essential teachings of Jesus.

Before we delve into this passage, let’s take a moment and look at something important –the kingdom of heaven. Jesus, as mentioned, had been preaching repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now he uses this term again in verse 3. The kingdom of heaven is the same as the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Christ. It is the presence of God and his rule. It is what the Jewish people longed for –that God would come and rule them, give them peace, give them security, free them from the pains and struggles they were having. It is when God himself would be with his people and empower them and bless them. I believe it is in the longing of each person to have this –the kingdom of heaven –the presence of God. We have this longing, this hole in our lives that is never filled or satisfied except by God. They longed for this –this was the direction they wanted, they needed to go. And so Jesus says, repent –the kingdom of heaven is at hand! Change, turn around, go in the right direction!

And now Jesus lays out the map, he gives the directions on what he means by repent and turn around. Let’s look at 5:3.
Blessed are the poor in Spirit.
This verse parallels the one in verse 10. They serve as book ends to the other six bringing us into the kingdom of God. The poor in this case is one who is absolutely destitute. It is not just a case of doing without, it is the idea of absolute poverty. This is a person who not only has nothing, they know they have nothing. Absolutely nothing! But note, this is not material poverty, as some have read it, but spiritual poverty, we are "POOR IN SPIRIT".

What Jesus says succinctly and clearly here is blessed are the poor in spirit -there is nothing that we have or are spiritually, we are poor, we are beyond poor, we are absolutely destitute spiritually. In a nutshell –We are Lost! And we are not able to do anything. We are separate form God and we are continuing to head in the wrong direction. And no matter what we do we are still lost! There is no good in us, there is nothing we have or are that we can bring us closer to the perfect heavenly Father. And we don’t like to hear that. Several weeks ago I gave a sermon on our spiritual condition and about sin. It is an ugly word that we do not like to hear or apply to our lives.

The Bile says this lost-ness is the result of sin. The Apostle Paul carried this though in several of his letters and can give us a clearer picture of what Jesus was teaching.
-Rom. 3:10 "There is no one righteous, not even one"
-Rom 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
-Eph 2:1 "You were dead in your transgressions and sins"
-Eph 2:8-10 "By grace you are saved through faith, not works..."

We see ourselves as good people. We are raised in a society that re-enforces and builds up the idea that we are good people who sometime do wrong things. Just this last week I heard on the news about this hazing stuff that has been going on in a private school in Winnipeg. About those who were caught and are now being investigated or charged in this, one fellow student said about one of the guys allegedly involved, “Well, he is good guy who just did something wrong.”

That is our attitude –we are good people who do some wrong things. We are good –to call me or tell me I am a sinner, that I am not good –well, I don’t want to hear that. But Jesus doesn’t hold back, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” Blessed are those who realize, accept and know that they are spiritual paupers, spiritually destitute. And that is tough to hear –tough to accept. But it is essential if we are to understand the rest of the teachings of Jesus. It is essential if we are to understand and grasp the blessing, the joy, the power, the strength, the reality of Who Jesus is, what Jesus says, and ultimately what Jesus will do in dying for our sins! The life of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus the death of Jesus lose their power and meaning unless we grasp this essential foundational teaching –blessed are the poor in spirit!

It is only when we realize our condition, that we are lost and totally incapable of getting closer to God, that we come to the place of blessing. And that Blessing is salvation, the kingdom of God! Note that Jesus says something extraordinary here –for theirs “is” the kingdom of God. It becomes a current reality, a present condition. He says it again in verse 10 –“is.” We no longer are lost –we have the right direction to go!

Out of the snow comes that sign, go this way. We turn around, and start –I am now found! I am still in the storm I am still a long way from getting home –But I am found! Jesus says, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

The other blessings are all “will be.” But here and now, the kingdom of God is yours! When you realize, accept and see yourself as poor in spirit, then you begin to experience the kingdom of God –God coming into and touching your life, empowering you, filling you and giving you His Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God is the presence of God and the working of God and the love of God and the power of God and the grace of God and the mercy of God and the filling of God –the kingdom of God is yours when you are poor in spirit.

Jesus says, “Blessed are they that see they are spiritually destitute and trust in God, for theirs IS the kingdom of heaven.” The tense is present. Jesus said many times that the kingdom of God is at hand, that the kingdom of God is within us who believe. We understand from other parts of the Bible that we are brought into God's Kingdom when we believe (Eph 1:3-6, 2:6), that we are given the Holy Spirit as a deposit, that we are walking in the light, that we are a part of His Kingdom NOW.

I wonder if Jesus first looked at Peter when he said this. Just a short time before, when Jesus called Peter and the others to follow Him, Peter realized this for himself. In Luke 5 we read that Jesus is standing on the shore and teaching. Well, let me pick up that account on Luke 5 beginning at verse 1.

Jesus is not saying, Blessed are the depressed, or the sad. Yes, Jesus comes to minister to us in those times, He comes to heal us from these. We can experience His presence and his closeness =the blessedness of His working in our lives. But here the blessed are those who see they are spiritually destitute, for they will have the kingdom of heaven, salvation, eternal life through Christ. The starting point for experiencing the blessedness of God is to know we are spiritually poor.

If we do not see our spiritual destitution, if we do not see, or admit we are heading away from God and cannot find him on our own, then we remain distant from God. Most people believe they are okay, that spiritually they have enough to get them by. They believe that they will get to heave, have the blessing of the kingdom of God, because they are okay. Most people do not want to admit that they have nothing to bring to God, nothing to get them into the Kingdom. That is why this is such a hard teaching, why we tend to soften it or say, blessed are the poor… but again, unless we get this, our faith will be shallow, our journey rocky. The beginning of an authentic vibrant and blessed life with God through Christ begins here –poor in spirit. The only way is to see ones spiritual destitution and turn to God. Repent, see your lost-ness, turn around and accept the directions, the gift of life given through Christ. Oh, the blessedness of heading to the Father, oh, the blessedness of turning around and heading the right way. Oh, the blessedness of admitting my spiritual poorness and getting the right directions to get closer to God!