The Sermon on the Mount Blessed Are The Humble

Mathew 5:3

Let's picture ourselves in the great outdoors in the sweet spring season away from the city and noise. The hills are green and dotted with flowers. Rocks lay about making a nice place to sit down and rest. Your friends have come together with picnic baskets and looking forward to a good. time. The hills make a natural amphitheater amplifying the delightful squeals of the little children. The people begin to hush the crowds as Jesus walks to the upper part of the hill and sits down to teach his disciples. The stillness is broken by a strong, powerful voice which carries across the valley for the multitudes to hear. What he taught that day was rich with wisdom and practical faith. In some ways it was idealistic but thoroughly challenging. These sayings are called the Sermon on the Mount and begin with the Beatitudes.

The eight beatitudes are to build character of the Christian before Jesus teaches us how to live in the rest of the Sermon. All Christians are to exemplify each of these character qualities which we want to study in detail over the next few weeks. Not one of these eight come naturally and in fact are the very opposite of the qualities which we see in the world around us.

The word Beatitude contains the two words "be" and "attitude". These character qualities are to be our attitude in all our life. As a person develops the qualities taught in the Beatitudes, a person's life becomes blessed.

In each of the Beatitudes there is two segments.

1. the quality or characteristic we are to nurture and

2. the result or reward which comes about.

Today we will examine the first of the eight Beatitudes "Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. "Mt 5:3 This beatitude is foundational to all the other ones. Without this first one the rest are rather meaningless. This beatitude is foundational. If we are not poor in spirit, we cannot develop the other qualities. We must empty ourselves before ,we can be filled with the other qualities. We cannot be filled with new wine before the old wine is poured out. Not until we recognize how sinful and poor we are spiritually can we be filled by God.

If you have never come to the point of recognizing your utter poverty before God then today as we examine what it means to be poor in spirit I trust you will see your true condition and come humbly to God.

We will study three terms in detail this morning Blessed, Poor in Spirit, and the Kingdom of Heaven. Through a study of these three term I hope that this verse will come alive and enrich your life.

Bless - what does that term mean to you? We often hear it in prayers. Bless Grandpa and Grandma, Bless the missionaries, bless the poor, bless the dog and cat Have you ever said that? It is a term that we are familiar with which we use but it is used so generally that it is difficult to define,

The word "blessed" means that we ask someone to prosper by the hand of God. The Greeks used this word to describe a person who was truly in a state of contentment or happiness. People can be content and happy but only under certain conditions.

The first Beatitude tells us that the one who is blessed and truly happy is the one that is poor in spirit. The Bible gives us a very clear picture of what it means to be poor in spirit by showing us the contrast of two men in the New Testament. Before we examine that illustration let us examine some false concepts of being poor in spirit.

Some Christians think that to be poor in spirit means that they have to be weak, retiring, or lacking courage. They will tell you I'm not good for anything, I can't do anything, I really can't do anything or have anything to contribute - they are probably right but that is not being poor in spirit. These people are not poor in spirit they only have a poor self-image. That is wrong.

God does not add Good-for-nothings to the church. God says we are to have a clear understanding of the gifts He has given to us. We are to use these gifts to His honour and glory. The Body of Christ is not made up with a lot of useless appendages to get in the way of the healthy body.

God has made sure that we all have a real purpose in His body and He has given us gifts and the Holy Spirit so that we are somebody!!! We do have something to give to the Body!

There are other people who think that they are poor in spirit if they wear the right kind of clothes and drive the right kind of vehicles. They are sincere but they are sincerely wrong! In the Leamington area there are a number of Mexican Mennonites. The men are careful that the women have the right style , colour and length of dress but it did does not matter if they come home drunk or physically abuse the members of their family. They still need to hear what it means to be poor in spirit.

What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Let me answer with a verse from Is. 57:15. "For this is what the high and lofty One says - he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”

The one who is poor in spirit is the one who has a pure heart and has been made holy so he can live together with God. Being poor in spirit is coming to the point where we recognize our sinfulness and our unworthiness to receive God's abundant grace. David expressed it well when he said, “ Who am I, 0 Lord God, and what is my house, that Thou hast brought me this far?” (2Sam, 7:18)

The classic example which illustrates this concept from t the New Testament is found in Luke 18: 9 - 14

Have you prayed the publican's prayer lately? You may say that I did that a long time ago. Have you prayed it lately? We need to remember that the mercy of God is extended to us not because of our goodness but because of his grace. When we've been Christians a long time we begin to take God's goodness for granted. Pride begins to creep in.

Being poor in spirit means a complete removal of pride reliance on ourselves or self-assurance. It is recognizing that in our hearts we are "Poor" in the sense that without divine assistance we have insufficient power to do what God requires us to do. As we recognize our insufficiencies we come face to face with God. A person only becomes a Christian after he realizes that he truly on his own is poor in spirit. A person can only be confident that he has eternal life if he remains poor in spirit.

Eph 2:8, 9 tells us that it is "By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast." Thus it is only a gift of God that we should even receive the gift of entering into the Kingdom of Heaven.

James 5:5b,6 reminds us that it is only as we remain poor in spirit that we receive our final reward. It reads, 'God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper time.' This verse tells us that the proud and self-sufficient will be excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven.

God doesn't only promise that the one who is poor in spirit will be happy He also promises that the Kingdom of Heaven will be theirs.

The New Testament speaks much about the Kingdom, but Matthew is the only writer who speaks about the kingdom of Heaven and he also uses the term Kingdom of God which the other writers use to describe the great vast kingdom which God is setting up,

The term kingdom of heaven and the word heaven are not completely the same. Heaven is a place from where God reigns over the Kingdom of Heaven. The kingdom of Heaven has a present and a future idea. We can experience the Kingdom NOW! This is in the present tense in our verse. Theirs is the kingdom of God . We don't have to wait until we go to be with God to experience this Kingdom.

In the scriptures the Kingdom of God stands against the kingdom of darkness. You are either a citizen of the kingdom of heaven or part of the kingdom of Satan. The point of entry into the kingdom of God is when a person becomes poor in spirit and admits that he is a sinner in need of the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 13 Jesus told several parables about the Kingdom of Heaven. It would be great to study all these in greater detail but I will leave that study to you. However let us look at just one of these in Matthew 13:44

The Kingdom of God is precious. More precious than anything else. Have you given everything up to become a part of the Kingdom of God? The person who humbles "himself and seeks after God will experience a state of blessed happiness. Is your life full of turmoil. Then turn Jesus and he will forgive your sins and give you peace. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Blessed!!

Orillia Christian Fellowship October 16th, 1882
Thompson July/80
Leam Lao 4/14/96