If you'd open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5, we're going to be looking at the Beatitudes
for the next two months.
And so I'd like to read for you Matthew 5.
We'll just go 1 through 16.
Hear God's Word.
Seeing the crowds, He, 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.
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?
Lord, it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand.
And it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others,
so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
May God bless the hearing of his word.
This morning, we begin a sermon series in the Beatitudes.
So we're going to be in here for the next couple months.
And the Beatitudes are at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew.
In the Gospel of Matthew, if you're not familiar with it,
it's basically a biography about Jesus, God with us, the King.
And so we learn early, like in chapter 3,
Jesus is baptized by J.T.B., John the Baptist.
And then in chapter 4, Jesus is tempted by the devil.
And he responds every time by quoting God's word.
He starts his public ministry.
He starts gathering his disciples.
And here he sits on a mountainside
and preaches what is likely the greatest sermon ever preached.
It is his inaugural address as Emmanuel, the King.
It is his kingdom manifesto.
And in this sermon, he moves from the character of his citizens
to the conduct of his citizens.
And we're going to be focusing for the next two months
on the character of his citizens right out of the Beatitudes.
He's very interested in helping us think about who we are as his citizens.
And from there, we live out kingdom conduct.
You can ask the question, why?
Why are we doing this?
Why are we going to focus two months of our lives as a church
on the Beatitudes, focusing on the character of Christ's kingdom citizens
at this time?
Well, there's something else going on in our nation at this time.
We're going to be in the middle of a contentious presidential election.
And the likelihood of you being influenced by that election is high.
That you would form your identity functionally from what you're hearing day in and day out
through the election.
That you will be affected emotionally, internally by what you're seeing and hearing.
So, I want to love you through this election cycle.
And I want to not just remind you that you are a citizen of the kingdom, brother, sister.
But citizens of the kingdom have a particular posture of heart.
A character that is spelt out by Jesus, our King, here in the Beatitudes.
Now, when you read, blessed are the poor in spirit, I'm guessing you're thinking something.
You're like, well, that sounds interesting.
I'm not wanting to really sign up for poor or poverty, though.
What I want to help you to see is this poverty of spirit.
It's not something so much you do.
It's something you are.
It's a spiritual bankruptcy that we all need to declare on a daily basis.
And there is great blessing in that.
And so this morning, we're going to tackle the first of these eight Beatitudes.
And there's a reason why this is the first one.
Jesus is brilliant in leading off with this.
We're going to get into not just blessed are the poor, but we're going to look next week.
Blessed are those who mourn, who are meek, hunger, and thirst after righteousness,
who are merciful, pure in heart.
They're peacemakers.
Blessed are those who are persecuted.
And it all depends on this first one.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
These are eight distinct character traits of every citizen of the kingdom.
So here's how we're going to proceed this morning with this first one.
I'm going to ask four questions and answer them.
Question number one is, hey, what's the biblical landscape that we're in right now?
Just kind of a general framing to get your bearings.
And then we're going to kind of dig into 5.3, this actual Beatitude.
Who are the poor in spirit?
What does that mean?
The third question is going to be, why is being poor in spirit first?
And then fourth, how do we do the poor in spirit thing?
What does that look like on a daily basis?
How do we do that?
So in light of that, let's turn to this first question.
What is this biblical landscape of the Sermon on the Mount?
If you're showing up to a city for the first time, you want to get your bearings, right?
You want to know where you are.
And so when we turn to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7,
I just want to give you an overall flow of the sermon.
Jesus isn't preaching an enumerated sermon.
In other words, he's not making four points, and we don't see him saying,
point one, and then moving on to point two, point three, point four.
But there is this definitive movement in the sermon.
Let me help you see it.
In chapter 5, 3 through 16, Jesus talks about character through the Beatitudes.
This is who we are as citizens of the kingdom.
This is what marks us.
And then in chapter 5, verses 17 through chapter 7, verse 27,
he focuses on the conduct of citizens of his kingdom.
And he spells that out through obeying particular commands he issues.
And so the movement on the Sermon on the Mount starts with character and moves to conduct.
And what I want to help you to see, it's all about God's grace.
All of these blessings, blessed be, blessed, blessed,
that is declarations of God's grace on this particular citizen of the kingdom.
God's grace changing character.
And as a result, God's grace changing conduct.
So first and foremost, I want to help you to see this feature of this landscape, this sermon.
It's really about grace.
Changing our characters and changing our conduct.
We're going to be focusing on character.
Now there's some other features about this sermon.
What Martin Lloyd-Jones talks about, the spiritually logical sequence of this particular sermon.
First, there's an order.
There's a reason why he starts in pouring the Spirit and ends in,
blessed are the persecuted.
But there's some other things I want you to notice.
All eight of these Beatitudes, all eight are to characterize each of us.
It's like the fruit of the Spirit, where all nine fruit of the Spirit are to characterize each Christian.
All eight of these character traits in the Beatitudes are to mark every one of us.
Furthermore, there is this already not yet aspect to the Beatitudes.
You can see it.
In chapter 5, verse 3, you see,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
And you look down at verse 10, it says,
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
That same phrase, that same promise is used at the beginning and the end of the Beatitudes,
and it bookends it.
It's an inclusio.
It helps you to think it's being framed by that.
So, all of these Beatitudes are, there's this like now component to it.
It's now.
The kingdom is ours now.
But as you look at the six Beatitudes inside those,
all the promises are future.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
And so there is this future orientation.
There's this already and not yet, which means this.
Yes, we're going to experience blessings of the kingdom now, but in part.
We're going to experience the fullness of God's blessing then, when Jesus comes back.
There's an already not yet dimension to the Beatitudes.
One last thing.
I just want you to see the significance of chapter 5, verse 1 and 2.
Seeing the crowns, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him,
and he opened his mouth and taught.
This is Emmanuel.
This God-man would die and be raised from the dead.
He's reigning on high right now.
He's the Psalm 2 son on the throne.
And here he sat down.
It's the posture of a rabbi.
And his disciples come around him.
Here's how I want you to think about the next two months.
Think about Jesus sitting down.
And we, his disciples, Sunday after Sunday, are coming around him to hear what he says.
And not just hear it so we can hear it, but we hear it so we can live it.
So there's some biblical landscape for you to get your bearings as we now head into the first Beatitude.
So let's ask this next question.
Who are these poor in spirit people?
What does that mean?
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Well, before I tell you what poor in spirit means, whatever that means, they're blessed.
And that word blessed shows up in this passage nine times in short space,
which means Jesus is wanting to get your attention.
Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed.
Now there's some other spots of blessed in your Bible.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
We just heard Les read it in Psalm 2.
The first one was Psalm 1-1, by the way.
Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Psalm 119, 1 and 2.
Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord.
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole hearts.
Blessed, blessed, blessed.
Blessed.
And then you get into Jeremiah 17, 5, that says,
Cursed is the man who trusts in man,
who makes flesh his strength.
And then verse 7.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
The word blessed gets used in your Bible in a variety of ways.
People bless God, but God blesses people.
It's a way of talking about approval.
So when we hear Jesus say blessed repeatedly,
he's talking about people in whom God has blessed.
God has graced.
God has approved, not by any merit on their own,
but by a sheer act of grace.
All this blessedness, all this blessedness,
at the heart of it is God's grace.
Undeserved, unmerited grace.
These kingdom citizens are citizens who've been delivered out of the domain of darkness
and transferred into the kingdom of the beloved son,
the saving reign of Jesus,
by the grace of God.
This is not some blessing that we earn.
This is not some blessing that happens as a result of our obedience.
It's by God's grace and God's grace alone.
And so when we read blessed are the poor in spirit,
do you know what's being said?
Graced are those who've declared spiritual bankruptcy.
Graced of God.
Happy are those who've experienced the undeserved approval of God
in their spiritual bankruptcy.
So let's talk about what this poor in spirit means.
The poverty here is not a material poverty.
We know that because we see very clearly it's a poor in spirit.
Not in checking account.
And then we read this poor in spirit.
It's not the Holy Spirit being referenced here.
This is your inner man being referenced.
Who you are on the inside.
Your nature.
Blessed are those who are unresourced in the whole in their inner beings.
Do you know what the opposite of the poor in spirit is?
You may say, well, it's being rich in spirit.
Well, that's getting at it.
The English phrase that would get at it is being full of yourself.
That's what the opposite of being poor in spirit is.
It's pride.
It's arrogance.
It's putting yourself first.
It's living as if you're the controlling center of your own kingdom.
And so when we talk about poor in spirit, we're talking about humility.
There's this passage in Luke 18.
In Jesus' teaching.
I'm going to read it to you.
There's two people in this parable.
In your mind as I'm reading it, think which one is full of themselves and which one is poor in spirit.
You ready?
Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.
This is Jesus speaking.
Two men went up into the temple to pray.
One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee was a religious professional.
The tax collector would have been seen as a Jewish sellout.
The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus.
God, I thank you that I am not like other men.
Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week.
I give tithes of all that I get.
Amen.
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Which one?
Who's full of himself?
Who's poor in spirit?
Jesus says this.
I tell you, this man, this tax collector, went down to his house justified.
Declared righteous in his sight.
Rather than the other.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, Pharisee.
But the one who humbles himself will be exalted, tax collector.
What we're talking about when it comes to poor in spirit, what does it mean to be poor in spirit?
It means to be humble towards God.
To be able to say at any given time, oh God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
It's a posture.
It's who we are.
It's a declaration of spiritual bankruptcy to God.
If you've ever been through bankruptcy, it's humiliating.
You've got to admit that you have just far exceeded anything that you could afford.
You've built up all this debt and you have no resources to get, even come close to paying it off.
So you need financial legal protection.
It's desperation.
It's like, this is the only thing I can do.
That's what it means to be poor in spirit in relationship to God.
When you consider your own sins, when you consider your sin debt that you're carrying,
of all the sins that you've committed for all of your life,
and you realize you've dug yourself into a sin debt hole that there's no getting out of.
You can't obey your way out of that.
And then when you realize, too, in addition to, I can't get out of this,
all of that carries a consequence.
Eternal punishment.
Because it's against God.
Then you start feeling the weight.
You start feeling the weight of your debt.
Your need.
That's why the tax collector said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
They understood.
In that parable, they were spiritually bankrupt.
There's this song.
It's a hymn.
Rock of Ages.
Stanza three.
Nothing in my hands I bring.
Simply to thy cross I cling.
Naked, come to thee for dress.
Helpless, look to thee for grace.
Foul, I too, the fountain fly.
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
Do you know what that is?
That's a declaration of spiritual bankruptcy.
That's sung.
We sing it together.
Declaring our spiritual bankruptcy.
There's nothing that we bring to this salvation.
We have no spiritual resources before a living God, holy God.
We're in huge spiritual debt.
Romans 3.23 says it this way.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Do you know what this means?
What, is there 8 billion people on the planet right now?
Everybody is spiritually bankrupt.
Everyone.
They are spiritually indebted.
They can't get their way out.
Find their way out.
Do you know what separates citizens of the kingdom from everybody else?
We declare it.
We acknowledge before God that we are spiritually indebted to Him and we can't pay it.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Give me that promise.
Tell me the promise.
Blessed.
Graced of God.
Are those who have declared spiritual bankruptcy.
For.
Promise.
Theirs is.
Promise.
The kingdom of heaven.
The saving reign of God.
Those who have been brought under the kingship.
Saving, gracious kingship of Jesus.
Tell me about it.
Here's what that means.
If you have acknowledged your spiritual bankruptcy, your depravity to Him, to God.
Do you know what He does?
Welcome to the kingdom.
You're the one I was looking for.
Come on in.
In fact, anyone who confesses their spiritual bankruptcy to Jesus will be completely forgiven of all of their sin debt.
Can I just read you two passages?
Listen to this.
This is Ephesians 1, verse 7.
In Him, Jesus, we have redemption through His blood.
We've been purchased from slavery, from debt.
In Him, we have redemption through His blood.
The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace.
The riches of His grace.
And then there's this.
2 Corinthians 8, 9.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor.
He took on your sin penalty.
So that you, who were poor,
under the condemnation of sin,
by His poverty might become rich.
What a Savior.
What a King.
This one speaking these words
would go to His death willingly,
innocently,
to die for your sin and my sin
so that He could forgive us.
And then He was raised
so that we could live for Him.
Debt free!
Do you know what being freed of all of your sin debt,
do you know what kind of state that is?
That's a blessed state.
That's a by God's grace state.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed, happy are the spiritually bankrupt
who've declared it,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
By the way,
no one
can enter the kingdom of the beloved Son
without first declaring spiritual bankruptcy.
There's no one in the kingdom
who's full of themselves.
Only those
who declare this spiritual bankruptcy.
Those who are living in reality.
Question three.
Why is poor in spirit the first on the list?
Why is this the first beatitude?
I mean,
it's not like Jesus just threw these beatitudes together.
He purposefully
placed poor in spirit in pole position.
Why did He do it?
Well, as I just mentioned,
you cannot enter Christ's kingdom
without first declaring
spiritual bankruptcy.
So,
if you want to come into the kingdom,
you need to declare that to Jesus.
And He says,
Oh,
you're the one I've been looking for.
Come on in.
I've paid for your sin.
Here's the riches of my grace.
But this is
first in another way as well.
Do you think
He will mourn your sin
if you're not first
poor in spirit?
You won't.
You won't mourn your sin
if you're not first poor in spirit.
If you don't think
you've got
an eternal nature problem,
you're not going to mourn your sin.
You think you're going to be
meek and gentle towards others
if you're not poor in spirit?
Hunger and thirst after righteousness,
mercy,
pure in heart.
Do you think
you're going to want
to make peace with others
if you're not
first poor in spirit?
People who are full of themselves
aren't going to make peace
with others.
Do you think
you'll actually
be willing to suffer
for Jesus
if you're not
first poor in spirit?
So this is first
for a reason.
This is humility.
This is
acknowledging the reality
that Jesus Christ
is the controlling center
of all things
and my rightful place
is orbiting him.
sin.
James 4.6 and 1 Peter 5.5.
They both quote
Proverbs chapter 3.
God opposes the proud
but gives grace
to the humble.
God opposes
those who are full of themselves
but boy does he give grace
to those who declare
spiritual bankruptcy.
I don't know about you
but I
am convinced
of my spiritual bankruptcy.
You may not
want to see yourself
as poor.
The reality is
you are.
You are.
Spiritually bankrupt.
There is a verse
that I was introduced to
maybe 25 years ago
by a mentor
and it's one of those
verses that
once you hide it
in your heart
it becomes one of those
verses that help you
again and again.
Do you know
who catches God's eye?
Isaiah 66
verse 2
the second half of it
we read this.
This is God speaking.
This is the one
to whom I will look.
This is the one
who catches my gracious eye.
He who is
humble
contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.
Do you know what is
of highest value
in the kingdom?
Poverty of spirit.
It's not like the world
we live in is it?
Why does God delight
in poverty of spirit?
Why does he
put this first?
Why is he putting
such a premium
on it?
I mean
is
is God just a control freak?
Is he just power hungry?
Or maybe on the other side
maybe
maybe he has a self-esteem
problem
and he commands people
to
humble themselves
so that they can build up
his self-esteem.
It's utterly ridiculous.
He doesn't require
our humility
because of some weakness
on his part.
John Piper
makes this argument.
He asks it this way.
Do you know who
the greatest worshiper
of God is?
God
is the greatest
worshiper of God.
He's fully convinced
and delights
in his own
unmatched worth
and he wants
even requires
us
to know
and delight
in his
unsurpassed worth
and you know
how you get there?
He declares
spiritual bankruptcy.
Why does God
delight
in our humility
towards him?
Because
it's right!
You've heard me
use this illustration
12 million times
but it's so helpful
let me use it again.
Prior to
Nicholas Copernicus
in the 16th century
most people
thought
that
the sun
orbited the earth
in some kind of
geocentric
solar system
but we all know
now
that they were
mistaken
because what
Nicholas Copernicus
realized
through observation
is that we live
in a heliocentric
solar system.
All the planets
orbit the sun
not the other way around.
So before
Mr. Copernicus
everybody thought
they were living
in reality
but they weren't!
Humility
poverty of spirit
is realizing
that the world
does not orbit
you.
God does not
exist for you
but you
exist for God.
He's at the
glorious center
of all things
and that's
why
he
prioritizes
being
poor in spirit.
It's living
in reality.
Humility
is living
in
reality
the way
things really
are.
Now if you
think
that being a
Christian
means
giving Jesus
parts and pieces
of your life
you're probably
full of yourself.
Jesus doesn't
want parts
and pieces
to your life.
Who he is
demands
requires
all of it.
All of it.
And the way
to respond
to Jesus
is to deny
yourself
take up your
cross
and follow him.
another way
of declaring
spiritual
bankruptcy.
Why is
this first?
Because it
all starts
with humility.
It is
the first
and foremost
characteristic
of being
a citizen
of the kingdom
and man
does it fly
in the face
of our culture.
Last question
and I'm going
to hustle
through it.
How do we do
this poor
in spirit
thing?
How does
that
what
do I need
to do
today
to do
that?
Well I hope
at this point
you're realizing
that being
poor in spirit
is not so much
what you do
it's acknowledging
who you are.
Your
real state
of being
before God.
It's seeing
yourself
as God
sees you
in desperate
need
of the riches
of his grace
on a
daily
basis.
let me
just
remind you
once again
of this
2nd
Corinthians
8-9
passage
for you
know the
grace of
our Lord
Jesus
Christ
that though
he was
rich
yet for
your sake
he became
poor
so that
you
by his
poverty
might
become
rich.
Jesus
who
is
sinless
took
on
sin
so that
you
who
are
sinful
can
become
rich
in the
grace
of
salvation.
It is
beautiful.
people
if you're
a non-Christian
in the
room
you're
very aware
of your
sin
you don't
like
talking
about
or thinking
about
what you've
done
in your
past
and you've
never declared
your spiritual
bankruptcy
to Jesus
himself
the risen
king
who's
alive
today
do you
know how
you enter
the kingdom?
You
tell him
Lord
Jesus
I am
incredibly
indebted
and worthy
of hell
have mercy
on me
a sinner
and that
catches his
eye
and at
that moment
if that
is meant
you are
justified
in his
sight
forgiven
of all
your
sin
and
declared
righteous
with the
righteousness
he achieved
on earth
you're
delivered
from the
domain
of darkness
and you're
transferred
into the
kingdom
of the
beloved
son
welcome
to the
kingdom
if you
haven't done
that
today's
the day
no need
to wait
you go
to the
risen
king
and you
just
tell him
you're
spiritually
bankrupt
hey
will you
pour out
your
riches
of grace
on me
and he'd
be like
yes
welcome
but what
happens if
you're a
Christian
what happens
if you
declared your
spiritual
bankruptcy
to Jesus
ten years
ago
you've
already been
welcomed
into his
kingdom
what do
you do
you declare
spiritual
bankruptcy
daily
that's what
you do
you
acknowledge
that in
and of
yourself
you are
powerless
to live
for Jesus
on any
given day
that's how
you start
your day
with a
declaration
of spiritual
bankruptcy
to the
king of
grace
who is
loaded
with the
riches
of grace
we are
in
continual
need
of God's
grace
hey if you're a
Christian in the room
are you comparing
yourself to other
people and thinking
yourself pretty cool
you're more
like the Pharisee
in Luke 18
than the tax
collector
in Luke 18
we want to be
like the tax
collector
in Luke 18
oh God
have mercy
on us
sinners
saved by grace
in constant
need of God's
grace
one of the
important things
you need to know
Christian
citizen of the
kingdom
you will never
outgrow this
you never
outgrow
the need
to be humble
we never
outgrow
our poverty
of spirit
it's who we
are
dependent
creatures
on our
creator
let me give
you two
suggestions
though
to help
pray
every morning
before the
day starts
a declaration
of spiritual
poverty
to your
king
just tell
him
start the
day that
way
Lord
I can't
start
without
acknowledging
my huge
need for
you
you're the
vine
I'm the
branch
apart from
you I
can do
nothing
and
learn
to depend
on his
word
tremble
at his
word
feast
on his
word
be given
strength
by his
word
on a
daily
basis
because
no one
can live
on bread
alone
but only
on the
word of
God
if you are
full of
yourself
being
poor in
spirit
and the
seven
following
beatitudes
they will
have no
interest to
you
you won't
want it
you can't
grow in
God's grace
without
seeing your
own spiritual
poverty
in
admitting
it
but when
you do
God
opposes
the
proud
but boy
does he
give grace
to the
humble
we looked
at four
questions
I've tried
to give you
four answers
whether you're
brand new
to the
kingdom
or have
been a
citizen
for years
we never
outgrow
our poverty
of spirit
it is the
thing
that we
all share
in common
a deep
deep
ongoing
need
for our
king
this is the
way of his
kingdom
this is
kingdom
normal
to be
poor in
spirit
it's what
catches
God's eye
one more
note
this poverty
of spirit
is going to
come across
weak
to the
world
and you
know why
because it
is
we're not
full of
ourselves
no we
want to
be
full of
the grace
that's poured
out daily
by our
risen king
and so
we're glad
to declare
spiritual
poverty
day after
day
night after
night
we're glad
to live in
the reality
of
Jesus being
the controlling
center of
our lives
when
was the
last time
you
declared
to your
risen king
that you
are spiritual
pauper
let me
pray
risen
Lord
Jesus
we gather
around
to you
in your
words
and we
receive
this
blessed are
the poor
in spirit
for yours
is the
kingdom
of heaven
oh God
we receive
that and say
thank you
for reminding
us of who
we are
we won't
buck that
we won't
arch underneath
that
but rather we
will humble
ourselves to
that
and confess
to you
once again
we need you
we need only
what you give
we ask
that once
again
you will
give us
the grace
today
to be
faithful to
you
to your name
we pray
amen