Hearing from the Master
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Matthew 5:3; 6:9-15; 25-34; 7:7-12; Philippians 2:1-11
Turn to Matthew 5. My intent over the next nine weeks of this series is to take a look at each of the Beatitudes and further look into the Sermon on the Mount and where Christ refers to that character quality. And also, to notice in other parts of Scripture where Christ has demonstrated that quality Himself. And then on our final week, we will look at what I have called the “Blessed Life,” as this is the one who walks through the narrow gate, the one who has built his or her life upon the Rock, the one who can resist the false voices along the way, resisting all the things that might try to keep us from walking through that narrow gate. Yet the one who lives the “Blessed Life” will resist those things. This will not be a verse-by-verse study of the Sermon on the Mount, as that would take us months and months of study. But I trust that it will give us a great desire to live the way in which Christ teaches in this sermon.
Now in these Beatitudes we see the character of Christ, which we are to strive for, for without the Sermon on the Mount we would not have a complete picture of what perfection looks like, as the Sermon on the Mount gives us a fuller understanding of the character of Christ. And we understand as humans that we will never be perfect this side of eternity, but we also understand as Christians that our acceptance by the Father is not based upon our perfection, but is based upon the righteousness, the perfection of Christ, which has been given or the biblical word “imputed,” to us. Yet also as Christians, what has been revealed to us is that Jesus is Lord. And that understanding is paramount for the Christian; otherwise, there will be something missing in the Christian’s walk and missing in the Christian following after Christ. And so, as His followers, it is our obligation, or we could say privilege, to obey Him. In other words, His command to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect, is a command that we would see as desirable and valuable to us, though it does not appear to be desirable or valuable to the world.
And in some ways, we might say, how can I ever be perfect? But because of the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, we know how we can be perfect, because the principles given are what a perfect life looks like. And though we cannot fully attain that perfection, it ought to be the Christian’s joy to strive for that perfection. So, we can use the word, the Christian’s “obligation,” for we are people of faith, and we know that Jesus is Lord.
And so, Jesus is going to lay out for us nine character qualities that showcase the perfect life, which are called the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3-12. Character qualities that Jesus perfectly lived out Himself in His life while on earth. And the first is: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, which some have said is the cornerstone of all the other Beatitudes. In other words, without this first one, we could never strive for the rest.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:3 (LSB)
Let’s pray. Lord, we come before You again this morning with a promise of blessing that is not embraced by us naturally as humans without the working of Your Spirit within us. So, would You grant to us through Your Holy Spirit a right desire this morning that would embrace and desire this wonderful quality that was perfectly lived by our Saviour, whom we love and whom we follow and who is our Lord. For we ask these things in His name, amen. Well, first, we need to consider the phrase “poor in spirit,” as it has significant implications in the entire Sermon on the Mount. Kent Hughes wrote:
“To be ‘poor in spirit’ does not mean that someone has no value or that they have withdrawn personalities, as many people who are withdrawn can be very proud.”
- Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway), 17
John Stott states this truth very well:
“To be poor in spirit is therefore to acknowledge our spiritual poverty, indeed our spiritual bankruptcy, before God. For we are sinners, under the holy wrath of God, and deserving nothing but the judgment of God. We have nothing to offer, nothing to plead, nothing with which to buy the favour of heaven.”
John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2020), 23
John Wesley wrote that the man who understands the truth of being poor in spirit has a deep sense of the loathsome leprosy of sin which he brought with him from his mother’s womb, which overspreads his whole soul and therefore corrupts him. However, our culture today would view ourselves in a very different way. As a culture that would try to teach us to “believe in ourselves” or “follow our heart.” These clichés are quite opposed to the Sermon on the Mount or the thinking of Jeremiah that the human heart is desperately wicked. Good to realize that the understanding of the human heart comes from Scripture; it does not come from us. So, for us to know ourselves better and obviously God better, we must know the truth of the Bible. In other words, it is much better to know theology so that we would know the real truth about ourselves and not try to define ourselves by our feelings or our thinking. Michael Sherrard wrote:
“You need to preach to yourself more than you listen to yourself.”
Michael Sherrard, Why You Matter: How Your Quest for Meaning is Meaningless Without God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2021), 87
Is that not true? See, this is the great importance of biblical knowledge, as we offer little to our families or others if we can only offer truth or opinions from our minds. The older I get, the more I realize that biblical knowledge is so valuable to be able to minister well to others. And this is why the character quality of being “poor in spirit” is vital to Christianity. For without being “poor in Spirit,” a person would never come to Christ or understand their need for a Saviour. And the lack of conversions to Christ today is not a result of a culture that views themselves as too sinful. No, the disinterest in the gospel is the result of a culture that “feels” they are relatively good. Yet you cannot read the Sermon on the Mount—and if you are honest—not be struck with the inability to be obedient to the commands of Christ, that starkness of our shortcomings. Therefore, real truth about ourselves is paramount in bringing a sinner to Christ in the first place and massive in understanding the Sermon on the Mount. And we must understand that surrendering to Christ is not a one-time event when we fall before the Lord. No, it is a lifetime of service and surrender before Him. C. S. Lewis explains:
“Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good—above all, that we are better than someone else—I think that we are sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you forget yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.”
- S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York, NY: The Macmillan Company, 1958), 96-97
Therefore, a key principle in the Sermon on the Mount is the initial character quality of being “poor in spirit.” And one of the keys to this Beatitude is that it is not something that we try to accomplish, but something that we respond to. Jason Meyer calls it a “worshipful response to what Christ has done.” He wrote:
“The result of the Spirit’s work is that we bow before God as his humbled children in awe of him. We don’t bow before an unknown or far-away god, and we don’t skip into God’s presence with breezy familiarity. We come with an awakened sense of intimacy and awe. We realize that we are ‘in the holiest of all,’ and we are gripped with the sense that to be admitted there, to have an audience, to have access, is the greatest privilege that can ever fall to the lot of a human being.”
Jason Meyer, Lloyd-Jones on the Christian Life: Doctrine and Life as Fuel for Fire (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 146
Now, in our culture, the term “poor” is used for one who is economically poor. And this is understandable in a culture that would view much in the sense of materialistic wealth or the amount of money someone may have. And we too are products of this culture, as we likely spend considerable time thinking about and working towards becoming better off financially, and we understand that. So, the term “poor” in our culture rightfully means the inability, in some sense, to achieve wealth. And therefore “poor” in relation to financial matters means an inability to purchase a home, buy a car, get the latest fashions, or maybe even provide a meal. So, the one who is “poor” must depend upon someone else for food or shelter, depending on, of course, how poor someone might be. But “poor in spirit” means the inability in the sense of spiritual things. That a person must depend upon someone else to provide spiritual things such as forgiveness, their very breath, and eternal life. And therefore, the one who is poor in spirit is blessed because he or she realizes their need to depend upon God. And the major difference is that if someone is poor in our culture, they may, through hard work and effort, become rich, and we would applaud that. But someone who is spiritually poor has no means of ever becoming spiritually rich apart from the grace of God.
So, to be “poor in spirit” means the following: our inward nature is poor, and therefore we must recognize our spiritual poverty before God. We could say it is the opposite of spiritual pride. And we know we are poor when we realize we cannot fulfill all or even part of the Law. As Montgomery Boice wrote, the Law was given not so that we might pull up our bootstraps and congratulate ourselves on how well we are keeping it. No, the Law was given to drive us to God for mercy. As DA Carson says, we are sinful, rebellious and without moral virtues. And we may feel that this is really strong language, as we may think, I know so-and-so who is a really nice person. And that may very well be true. But that is from a human perspective; that is relative to another human being, by simply comparing ourselves with others. But not from the perspective of a perfect heavenly Father, a perfect, holy and sinless God.
And this truth must be understood, or it will skew how you view your standing before God. That you will either feel that you are good enough, which applauds your obedience; or you will feel that you never can satisfy the Father, which plays havoc with your obedience. But if you understand your bankruptcy before a perfect heavenly Father, that you owe Him everything—your life, your righteousness through Christ, and your eternal salvation. That understanding will properly motivate your obedience to Him. Not an obedience that saves us—for salvation is apart from works—but an obedient response for what God has done. And through the work of His Spirit, God begins to change us unto His likeness. And through God’s Word we know what His desire for us is. And through His Word and through His Spirit, He convicts us toward that end. And notice it says, Blessed are the poor in spirit. Interestingly, the word “beatitudes” which we often use for this opening section in Matthew 5 is not a word used in the Bible. It comes from the Latin word beātitūdō, which means blessedness. A. M. Hunter writes:
“The Beatitudes of Jesus describe the character of the man, living under God … [as they] enjoy happiness even here and now, though its perfection belongs to the heavenly world.”
- M. Hunter, Design for Life 34
Interesting, thinking back to growing up as a young guy, the common perception of those who were not believers would be that Christianity steals our joy, and yet, in reality, Christianity is our only joy. Others might see Christianity as this joy in heaven, true, and this Beatitude relays that thought: blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And there is truth to that, as we might understand the true kingdom of God occurs when Christ comes to earth and sets up His Millennial Kingdom. Yet when a person is serving Christ even here on earth, there becomes a taste of the kingdom of heaven already present in a sense. Alfred Edersheim explains the Kingdom, which I have found to be helpful. He writes that it refers to “the rule of God” or the “reign of God,” which was inaugurated when Christ came to the earth. And in some way is manifested in the church, though we still wait for His thousand-year reign. And that is quite the thought, isn’t it? That even within Elim Bible Chapel, because we uphold the truth of God in His Word, kingdom principles are present, aren’t they? Not perfected. Not wholly obeyed. Not held up completely, for we are not a perfect church.
But Edersheim said that, in a sense—despite all the hindrances and opposition to Christianity and even our imperfections as believers it is a kingdom which cannot be stopped, because Christ is coming back and He will rule in the Millennial Kingdom to come. And as I considered that truth, I thought we can get so caught up in the present war against Christianity that it can begin to dictate our outlook, and it can even dampen our confidence in Christ. All the while, the victory of Christ and His church is already certain. Folks, we need to remember that. True, we have not seen the final victory, but the ultimate victory is already certain, amen? And I believe this understanding enables us to pity the world in that sense that though the world may have its way, it is headed for ultimate doom, and we need to be saddened by that or lament that more than be angered. As our struggle in the world or our disagreement with much of the culture, the opposition against God and His Word, can never threaten the ultimate victory parade for Christ and His bride. Damaris Carbaugh sings the song Christ in Me with these words:
Christ in me … The hope of glory
Christ in me … My shelter from the storm
Should men of evil have their day … Or should the earth’s foundation sway
But none of these can take away … The living Christ in me
See, there is far more here for the believer and us as a congregation to rejoice in than for the church to moan and become angry. A. W. Pink wrote:
“He who is in possession of this poverty of spirit is pronounced ‘blessed.’ He is so because he now has a disposition the very opposite of what was his by nature, because he has in himself the first sure evidence that a Divine work of grace has been wrought in his heart, because he is an heir of the ‘kingdom of heaven’—the kingdom of grace here, the kingdom of glory hereafter.”
- W. Pink, An Exposition on the Sermon on the Mount 8
Remember that Paul told Timothy (1 Tim 4:8) that:
“[G]odliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”
1 Timothy 4:8 (LSB)
I believe one of the best strategy tools we can have for evangelism at home or outside the home is an obvious joy that we have both now and will have in eternity. As the Sermon on the Mount will go on to instruct on a humble life, not only before God but before both men and women. The need for humility that assures joy in the life of the believer. Thomas Watson asks this good question: How do we know when we are humble? Or what does poverty of spirit look like in the Christian’s life?
- We will be weaned from ourselves.
- We will be lost in the wonder of Christ.
- We will not complain about our situation.
- We will see better the strengths and virtues of others, and the weaknesses and sins of our own.
- We will spend much time in prayer.
- We will take Christ on His terms, not ours.
Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 45-48
Well, I wish to close with four passages that show humility before God. Three of them are in the Sermon on the Mount and the last one was found in the life of Christ Himself.
- A Complete Dependency in Prayer (6:8-13)
I do not read a lot of Scripture passages when I preach, but there are three passages in the Sermon on the Mount that I believe would speak to us, considering the things we have been thinking about this morning in this whole matter of humility, poor in spirit, and therefore dependency upon God.
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen.’”
Matthew 6:9-13 (LSB)
What we find in this perfect prayer is not the believer telling God what he (the believer) is about to do. He is not even asking God to bless his enterprises or desires. No, what is this prayer asking? (vs 9) that God would be glorified; (vs 10) that God’s kingdom would come, that God’s will would be done; (vs 11) bread; (vs 12) forgiveness; and (vs 13) deliverance from sin. You know, our desires, our wants really dictate how dependent we are on God. And what we want really determines how interested we are in the glory of God which ultimately reveals how truly humble we are. A complete dependency in prayer.
- A Complete Reliance for All of Life on God (6:25-34)
“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. [and these are your memory verses] But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:25-34 (LSB)
We find in this short sermonette such a reliance upon God for everything in life. In fact, I suppose we could say that our tendency to worry reveals a lack of reliance upon God. And we might respond with well, what about my job? Or what about the struggles with my child? Or what about my mortgage renewal? Or what about my upcoming doctor’s appointment? Well, there are two things I notice from this passage. One, it actually encompasses all of these things (vs 25); for this reason, do not worry about your life. That pretty much covers it; whatever it might be, you are worried about. But I would also see here that these things are important, things such as children, finances, health. Because Jesus says (vs 32) the heavenly Father knows you need such things. The question is not so much of the concern. The question is about our worry, which ultimately reveals how truly humble we are to rely on God.
- A Complete Satisfaction in a Generous Father (7:7-11)
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! Therefore, in all things, whatever you want people to do for you, so do for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7:7-11 (LSB)
Asking of God. When my grandkids ask for a Coke float or a Skor Blizzard, I will always say to them, “What do you say?” And they always respond, “Please, Papa dear.” Some of them, I do not even have to say anything; it just automatically comes out, “May I please have a raspberry milkshake, Papa dear?” It is good when we pray that we would never demand anything from God, but that we would ask as His children with complete humility and respectfulness. We love that with our own children or grandchildren. That is why we teach them to say things such as please and thank you. So, our contentment in life, knowing that we have a generous Father, is really revealed by our humble and respectful attitude toward Him. For God is good. He is always good. His “yes” is good and His “no” is good, though we might not always understand. And therefore, no matter how He answers us, we can be fully confident in Him. And so, our humility is revealed by either our satisfaction with God and what He gives, or our dissatisfaction with God and what He allows.
Finally, one of the great paradoxes that is hard to understand in the Bible is both the deity of Christ and the humanity of Christ. That yes, Jesus is God, but Jesus is also truly Man. And therefore, as a Man, Jesus demonstrated for us humility and subjection to the will of His Father. We see that in the Garden when Jesus prayed, not My will, but Your will. As Christ desired the will of His Father, even though the Father was asking Him to do far more than He would ever ask of us. So, in closing, I wish to go outside of the Sermon on the Mount to see this in a greater way. Turn to Philippians 2.
“Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, fulfill my joy, that you think the same way, by maintaining the same love, being united in spirit, thinking on one purpose, doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves, not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by 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.”
Philippians 2:1-8 (LSB)
But I also notice the glory of Christ that follows that humility.
“Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:9-11 (LSB)
And we would acknowledge that, as we desire as Christians the glory of Christ, it should be our goal to live for His glory. But when we think about our dependency upon God, our reliance upon God and our satisfaction with God, we quickly learn that God is so gracious. For look what Paul wrote to the believers in Colossae.
“When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.”
Colossians 3:4 (LSB)
He is good, He is good, His love endures forever, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. May we as a congregation be known as a people who are “poor in spirit,” for ours is what? The kingdom of heaven! And all God’s people said, amen.