Matthew 5:3
This is Matthew’s Gospel, chapter
five, beginning of verse one. It says, seeing the crowds, Jesus
went up on the mountain. And when he sat down, his disciples
came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught
them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the
merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who
are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile
you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you
falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your
reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets
who were before you. Pray with me. Lord, bless this
your word to show us how, as children of the king, we ought
to live. These are your kingdom principles. These are our kingdom
values. Help us to see them and to live
by them, not in our own strength, but by your grace. And this we
pray in the name of Jesus, our savior. Amen. When you come to
passage like the Beatitudes, it’s helpful to us to understand
a little bit about how to approach them, how to enter them, what
to do with them, because this is not a story, this is not a
narrative, this is not a Pauline epistle where, you know, it tells
us some imperatives. These have a lot of context behind
them. So the first thing I want us
to understand is that When we approach the Bible, we have to
approach it in the way it’s meant to be approached. So think for
just a moment about the Ten Commandments. Think about the law of God. Of
what use are the Ten Commandments? If you do the Ten Commandments,
if you keep all Ten Commandments, could you earn your salvation?
What is the answer? No. The answer is no. Anybody
said yes? We’ll talk afterwards. So, of
what use are the Ten Commandments? What do they do? Well, they do
a couple things. One is they restrain evil. Think about how
many people you know in this world who simply do not murder
because the Bible says do not murder. Now, they may not be
Christians, they may not keep any of the other Nine Commandments,
but the law of God can restrain evil. Another thing the law of
God can do is it can show us our need of a Savior. How many
of you have kept the Ten Commandments perfectly? Raise your hand. Okay, nobody has. And so what do the Ten Commandments
do? They show us our failures. They show us our weakness. And
as Martin Luther was known for saying, the law of God is a hammer,
and it drives us to Jesus. It shows us our weakness, our
failure, our inability to be saved, and it drives us to Jesus.
It’s a tutor, it shows us, it’s a schoolmaster, it shows us our
weakness. The other thing that the law
can do is it can give us a way to please Jesus. Now, right now
there’s a raging debate in Christian circles that says this. One side
says if you focus on obedience, you’re a legalist. And there’s another camp that
says if you focus on grace, you’re an antinomian, you’re against
the law. And somewhere we have to meet
in the middle. Well, the law of God helps us meet in the middle.
If you love Jesus, and if you have loved his appearing and
his salvation, guess how the law will relate to your life.
It will help you please God. Don’t you think that a child
who’s been blessed by parents wants to please his parents?
You would hope that, right? Well, that’s one of the things
the law can do for us. It can show us what is pleasing
to God, and as new creations in Christ, we can obey his holy
law and it pleases him. So how do you think the Sermon
on the Mount might be used? Well, you might could say in
some ways it reemphasizes the character of God and therefore
the character of Christians. The Ten Commandments showed us
the character of God and the Sermon on the Mount can show
us the character of God but can also show us the character of
the kingdom. Now you could go all the way
through the Sermon on the Mount and you could find Jesus in every
one of them. And the goal is, yes, do that,
but the goal also is to find yourself there and say, if this
is a picture of what a disciple of Christ looks like, then I
would love and like my life to conform that way. So, in some
sense, the Sermon on the Mount is like the Ten Commandments.
It’s a mirror, and it shows us who we really are. And it shows
us who we need to be in and through Christ. drive us again to the
Lord Jesus. And it can show us ways that
help us live in a way that please Almighty God. But we must remember
that whatever the Word of God says, we are unable. We are unable
to keep it, we are unable to obey it, we are unable to do
it, and we need the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we find Jesus,
we want to desire to live in the way that he puts forth to
us in a place like the Sermon on the Mount or the Beatitudes.
So what is the Sermon on the Mount? You might just say it
this way, it’s kingdom principles for kingdom living. So if your
children are the king, if Jesus is your king, you wanna live
according to kingdom principles and live a kingdom way, this
is it. And you come to Matthew chapter
five, verse three, which says, blessed are the poor in spirit
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It’s like a doorway,
it’s an entranceway. And if you can’t get over the
hump of being poor in spirit, The rest of the Beatitudes won’t
help you. If you’re not poor in spirit, why would you be mournful
of your sins? Why would you be meek? Why would
you hunger and thirst for righteousness? So you see, it’s an entryway.
Another way to put it, we sometimes talk in our Calvinist circles
about the five points of Calvinism, the tulip theology, you know,
there’s total depravity, there’s unconditional election. limited
atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints. If
you don’t get total depravity, you might as well put the rest
out the door because if you don’t get total depravity, you can’t
really adhere to the rest. Or there are other places in
scripture where if you don’t get the one, you really can’t
get the rest. And that’s the way the Sermon
on the Mount works. The first one, the blessed are
the poor in spirit is the doorway, it’s the gate, it’s the entry.
And once you get through that hump, you can move forward. I know the other example I was
thinking of, our church membership vows. Anybody know the first
membership vow? Are you a sinner? Do you know
yourself to be a sinner? Justly deserving the wrath and
justice of God. And after that, it says, do you
believe in Jesus? Do you believe the Bible? Do you love the church?
Do you submit and all that? But if you can’t do the first
one, you really ought to skip the rest of it. So this is like
that, it’s an entry point. Well, one thing to think about
as we look at the whole Sermon on the Mount, but tonight as
we look briefly at blessed are the poor in spirit, is you have
to be empty for God to fill you. If you don’t empty yourself,
if you do not become empty before God, you cannot be filled because
you need no filling. And so we understand And especially
in light of the example of the Lord Jesus, we’ve just been through
some with Philippians, Jesus emptied himself in order to become
our servant, in order that we might be filled. And so servanthood,
following Christ, living according to kingdom principles, often
means getting low before getting high. It means being humiliated
before exaltation comes. And so we want to understand
that principle as we approach the Beatitudes. We have to come
empty in order to leave filled. So a couple of questions to help
us think about Matthew 5.3, blessed are the poor in spirit. First
question is this, what will keep a person from God? How about
pride? I don’t need Jesus. I’m good
enough. How does it go? I’m smart enough. And doggone
it, people like me. Remember that from the little
self-help show on Saturday Night Live? But people think that way,
they’re prideful. Pride will keep you from God.
How about riches? Remember the rich young ruler, what must I
do? To enter the kingdom of heaven, sell all you have, give it to
the poor? I don’t know about that. So riches can keep us. How about earthly concerns? What’s
another thing Jesus said? If you wanna follow me and be
my disciple, you need to leave your father and mother, let the
dead bury the dead, put it all behind you and come and follow
me. Well, that becomes difficult. Or how about being religious?
That’ll keep you from God. I do all the right things. I dress right when I come to
church. I bring my tithe. I sit in the right pew. Hold the hymn with the right
posture. It gets worse than that, we know. But empty religion will
keep us from God. So what will keep a person from
God? There are a lot of things, but not being poor in spirit
is one. So what will keep a person from
God? That’s one question. This is more of a statement.
The second one is actually really a quote. Nothing in my hands
I bring, simply to the cross I cling. How does it go from
there? Naked come to thee for dress. We know that when we come to
salvation in the Lord Jesus, we have nothing in our hands. We are poor, we are broke, we
are empty, we are desperate. Now think about a time when you
were poor. Did anybody read the article
in the paper about Bunky Nichols, Nichols Pontiac Dodge? How many
of y’all bought a car from him over the years? Probably at least
all of us bought one. His son was talking about, you
know, his dad was What an auto tycoon more or less and 17 dealerships. But did you catch what his son
said his dad had when he got married? He had 100 bucks. He worked for it. But he was
poor. Today we helped a family, a family
that comes very often to our door. They’re in a desperate
situation, it seems, from time to time. People are poor. People don’t have things. They
need things. We can all remember a time where
we went without. But that’s not what the Lord
is talking about here. He’s not speaking about material poverty. If material
poverty were the answer, this is an interesting thought, if
material poverty were the answer, then why would we want to help
the poor? We’d say, oh, that’s a virtue. You’re poor? Oh, wonderful.
You’ve achieved a Christian virtue. He said, the Lord is not talking
about that. He’s talking about being poor
in spirit, being empty, being bankrupt. Saying, as the hymn
writer says, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross
I cling, naked come to thee for dress. We’re poor, we’re broke,
we’re empty, we’re desperate. Think of the prodigal son. When
did he finally come to his senses? I want my inheritance. He gets it, he goes, he parties,
he sows his wild oats, and then what is he eating? The pig’s
oats. And what does he finally say?
We sing a little hymn about it from time to time. All my life long, I have panted
from a drink from some cool stream. Hallelujah, Jesus has found me.
It’s a little song about the prodigal son, but what does the
prodigal son say? I’ll go to my father’s house, because even
his servants, his hired hands, have everything they need. I
will arise and go to Jesus. He will receive me in his arms. We sing that great hymn from
time to time as well. The prodigal son came to the
end of himself and said, I’m poor, I’m broke, I’m empty, I’ve
got nothing, and I can go to my father’s house and he will
take me in. Or how about the Pharisee and
the tax collector? The Pharisee went really close
to the altar. And what was his prayer? I thank
the Lord that I am not a sinner. I’m not like the prostitute,
I’m not like the, oh wait, I’m not like the tax collector way
back there. On and on. Where’s the tax collector? He’s
way in the back. He won’t even approach the mercy
seat. And he beats his chest and says,
Lord have mercy on me. And Jesus, speaking to his disciples
who are watching this whole thing, says, which one went home today
justified? By God, that is. One justified
himself, but the other who was empty was justified by God. Nothing
in my hands I bring. It takes a death to self to come
to the living God. And maybe you think back to the
moment in time where you realized that you were a sinner. And you
are empty and poor and bankrupt and without anything in this
world and in need of the mercy of God and Christ Jesus. There’s
a third thing to think of, not just what will keep a person
from God, not just nothing in my hands I bring, but this third
thing is this, why am I poor? Why am I poor? It’s because of
sin. That’s the simple answer. Why
are you poor? It’s because of sin. It’s because your sin, your
original sin that you were born with, inherited from Adam and
Eve, and the actual sins that proceed from it, are mounting
a debt on your account that until Christ pays for it, and you receive
his gift by faith, is a debt that you owe and a debt that
you could never pay, and it will lead you to bankruptcy, moral
bankruptcy, spiritual bankruptcy, and you will be in debtor’s prison
in this life and in the life which is to come. And what is
the only way out of that wicked estate? It’s to have faith in
the one who paid your debt for you. And over and over and over
in the Bible, we see examples, we see stories where God shows
his economy. You owe debt, I pay it. What
is it? Which prophet is it who purchases
Gomer off of the auction block? Hosea. He marries a wife who,
she’s a sinner. She’s not fit to be a wife. But
he goes and redeems her from the auction block and he takes
her to be his. And he purifies her and cleanses
her and makes her fit. And that’s what the Lord Jesus
does for us. But why are we poor? It’s because of sin. We’ll never
land on our feet. We’ll never get out from under.
You know, we think from time to time about folks who get into
poverty. Why is it they get into poverty?
Some people are just lazy, right? We know that. They’re lazy, they
don’t work. And a lazy person, according to the Bible, will
what? He’ll never have what he needs. He’ll get game and he
won’t even roast it, the proverb says. So some people are in poverty
because they’re lazy. Others are in poverty because
they are exploited. They’re in poverty because they have been
exploited and maybe there’s something that could be done, but it’s
hard to overcome those who exploit them. Others are in poverty because
it’s just hard times. And now we’re in a period of
time where we say there is no middle class. There’s the top
2% and they own what, 90, 95% of the world’s or the nation’s
wealth. And so there’s economic conditions. And so people are
poor for different reasons, but why are we spiritually poor?
The answer is the same. It doesn’t matter how rich you are, how
middle class you are, or how poor you are. Your spiritual
condition is the same without the Lord Jesus. So why am I poor?
It’s because we are spiritually empty. And Satan would love nothing
more than to keep you in that impoverished position. I think of, it’s a wonderful
life. Remember Mr. Potter? He earned
every property in town. And what did he do? He kept everybody
poor. He kept everybody living in his
houses. And he was getting rich while
everybody was getting poor. That is what Satan wants. He
does not want your good. He doesn’t want you out of debt.
He wants you indebted to him. He wants you to have the same
misery he does. But Christ comes. Now I’m not saying Christ is
like, what’s his name? who’s the main character in It’s
a Wonderful Life. Yeah, Jesus and George Bailey,
not the same, I’m not going there. But Christ wants us out of that
wicked circle that never ends. And so why am I poor? It’s because
of sin. Why am I rich? Because of Christ. Well, the
fourth thing for us to think about is this, be blessed. God wants you to be blessed.
Why does it say blessed are, blessed are, blessed are? It
says that every time we have a beatitude, blessed are. Why
does God want you to be blessed? Well, because he’s your father
and you are his children. And he wants us, when we come
to the end of ourselves and come to faith in Jesus, he wants us
to be blessed. And so here the blessing is this,
blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. We inherit his kingdom. We are
part of his kingdom. We are airs with Jesus. We have all the blessings that
come with life in the Lord Jesus. Be blessed. God rescues us from
nature’s night. He rescues us from our sin. He
rescues us from our wickedness. He regenerates us. He makes a
new creation. And he wants us to be blessed.
Some translate this blessed as happy. which can seem a little
trite, but it means to have literally a blissful life. God wants Christians
to be full of joy, full of happiness. Now, does that mean in this life
you’re gonna be happy all the time? Does it mean your back won’t
ache or cancer won’t come or the curses of life in this world
because of sin will not come? Absolutely, it does not. But
don’t we live a blessed life? We have been blessed in Christ
Jesus with every spiritual blessing. We have all the resources of
heaven. at our disposal were new creations in the Lord Jesus.
And so he wants us to be blessed. So what’s the prayer that we
ought to have? Well, it simply is this, Lord,
give us or give others a poverty of spirit. Make us empty so that
we can be full. Let’s pray that prayer together.
Lord, we thank you that you show us who we really are and that
we come to the end of ourselves and we come to Jesus and we say,
here we are empty, fill us and fill us full that we might be
blessed and that we might be a blessing to others. Lord, help
us every day to wake up and remember who we are, who we were apart
from Christ and who we now are in him. And we thank you that
in Jesus, we have all the fullness of life and it says in his name
we pray, amen.