Welcome and Church Vision
o Good morning / Tithes and offerings.
o What is the vision of MBC?
To Enable, Empower, and Encourage each
other to: Share the gospel with Everyone,
Everywhere, All the time.
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Sermon Title and Passage
o I received an interesting mailer on Friday.
I’m thinking about going. How about you?
o There’s been a great outpouring of effort
by our church family to spread the news
of Fall Fest.
o Fall Fest yard signs. Almost all the yard signs have been taken and
setup throughout our communities.
o Evangelism Explosion. Brochures, tracts and pdf file.
o Volunteer signup sheet on bulletin board. Five categories; can
signup for more than one.
o “On this day in history”:
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Sermon Title and Passage
o The Gospel According To Matthew.
o Sermon title: “Poor In Spirit”.
o You won’t need to turn to our passage this
morning as it is only one verse long. Of
course if you like highlighting or making
notes in the margins then by all means.
o The setting of the Beatitudes and the SM is up on the ridgeline of
gassy rolling hills. This is at the base of the mountain range just
west of the Sea of Galilee outside the city of Capernaum.
o Jesus just left the crowds below to go up on one of these grassy
knolls and sat down. His disciples knew that meant He was going
to give them personal teaching so they went up to Him and sat
down before Him.
o Let’s pray.
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Bible Passage
o Please follow along as I read Mt 5:3.
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“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
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Poor In Spirit
This short verse kicks off the SM. I don’t
know if we’ll take a week for each of the 8
proper Beatitudes but we will for this one.
1) The Bible
o It’s Not – The Bible isn’t a text book. It’s not a how-to or a selfhelp manual. It’s not a means of entertainment. It’s not a sleep
aid.
o It Is – It’s the word of God. We’ve been blessed with a revelation
of God and who He created us to be. It is born of love. It is
sacred. It is precious.
o Approach – When I read or study the Bible I ask God for help in
learning and understanding what He intended to say. I don’t
trust myself to decipher His divine wisdom on my own. It’s too
easy for me to shape it’s meaning based on my own
experience, wisdom and/or objectives. I remind myself to ask
for His revelation to my mind and my heart.
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Poor In Spirit
With this approach in mind I read the text
to get an initial overview. Then I read it again
asking questions like who, what, where,
when, why and how. I also spend considerable
time researching context and definitions.
2) Poor In Spirit
o Duplicate – Luke lists four of Mt’s Beatitudes including this one.
But he shortens it to “Blessed are the poor” while Mt adds
“poor in spirit”. What is “poor” and how does “in spirit” fit?
o Poor – Poor is translated from the Gk [ptōchos]. It means
what we think it means: poor, poverty or destitute of
something (usually money).
o In Spirit – Spirit [pneũma], with a lowercase “s” refers to the
essence or foundation of a person’s self, the soul. It includes
the seat of emotional faculties; especially as disposed toward
God.
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Poor In Spirit
But spirit is used in a prepositional phrase
and modifies the concept of poor. This is the
key that gives us positive proof of the true
meaning.
2) Poor In Spirit
o Poor In Spirit – The financially poor have a meager life.
Continually doing without because they don’t have the means
to buy what most consider to be essentials. The state of
poorness isn’t what God blesses. But, because of the poverty, a
person lives in a persistent state of humility. Such humility is
applied to the spirit as one looks inward and it’s extended to
the world around as one looks outward.
o Desired State – God desires His children to see themselves with
object humility and conduct themselves with a deportment of
humility toward others and the world around them.
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Poor In Spirit
Last week I said that the Beatitudes aren’t
the “Be”-attitudes because that implies a
works based religion. These aren’t something
we can achieve through self effort. They are
states of Christian being in increasing degree
as we draw closer to God and permit the Holy Spirit to reign in our
lives. I then added that the Beatitudes are better compared to and
described by the parable of the Prodigal Son.
3) Prodigal Son
o Luke 15 – Let’s take a look at Luke 15 and read the first half of
the parable of the Prodigal Son in verses 11-19.
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Bible Passage
11
12
And He said, “A man had two sons.
“The younger of them said to his father,
‘Father, give me the share of the estate
that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth
between them.
13 “And not many days later, the younger son gathered
everything together and went on a journey into a distant
country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.
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Bible Passage
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“Now when he had spent everything,
a severe famine occurred in that country,
and he began to be impoverished.
15 “So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that
country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 “And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods
that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to
him.
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Bible Passage
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“But when he came to his senses, he
said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men
have more than enough bread, but I am
dying here with hunger!
18 ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I
have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of
your hired men.” ’
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Poor In Spirit
I’ll make further comparisons to this parable
as we continue through the Beatitudes. It’s not
my intention to dig deeply into this parable.
Rather, I’ll draw out points of comparison as it
helps us understand the true meaning of the
Beatitudes.
3) Prodigal Son (cont’d)
o Arrogance – Arrogance is the antonym of humility. Humility is a
typical state of being for one who is poor. Therefore, the very
poor have little use for arrogance. They are humble because of
their poverty; it isn’t something they tried to achieve.
o Arrogant Son – In the parable the younger son was arrogant. He
had selfish motivations. He demanded his inheritance early and
thereby became wealthy. His wealth led to arrogance and selfdependence. He no longer wanted a relationship with his
father and no longer depended upon him for his livelihood.
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Poor In Spirit
3) Prodigal Son (cont’d)
o The Tides Turned – The tides of fortune
turned as they so easily and often do. The
younger, arrogant son went off to another
country away from his father. He didn’t get a job or even buy
himself a plush position somewhere. Instead, he squandered all
his wealth on selfish living. Then a severe famine struck and he
lost everything.
o Humility – Now with everything gone he goes to work by taking
the only thing available and the only thing he’s qualified to do.
But even at this point he’s still clinging to the ghost of
arrogance. He attempts to rescue himself out of his plight by
his own wisdom and effort. But when life, his position and the
severe famine prove unrelenting he finally swallows his
arrogant pride once and for all and discovers true humility.
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Poor In Spirit
Once he came to grips with his lot in life he
gained the right perspective of humility towards
himself, his father and life itself. He didn’t pursue
blessings, poverty or the kingdom of heaven. But
when the poorness of his state brought humility
he returned to his father. His father then blessed him with living in his
father’s kingdom.
4) Kingdom of Heaven
o Definition – What is “kingdom” and how does the prepositional
phrase “of heaven” modify kingdom? Kingdom is a physical
domain that is ruled by a king. A king issues and enforces the
rules within his domain. Heaven is the dwelling place of God.
So, kingdom of heaven is the same as the kingdom of God.
Neither imply that the domain being ruled is heaven itself.
Rather, it positively refers to earth as its location and the
disciples of Jesus are its citizens.
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Poor In Spirit
4) Kingdom of Heaven (cont’d)
o Two Kinds – I also said last week that there
are two kinds of people in the world:
disciples following Jesus and everyone
else. There’s no in between and no other category. Those who
have received Jesus as Savior AND who follow Him are in the
kingdom of heaven. They are under the rule, authority and
protection of God. Those who haven’t received Jesus are not in
the kingdom of heaven.
o Side by Side – The two types of citizens live side by side here on
earth. God’s kingdom doesn’t have geographical boundaries.
They are spiritual. Those who have been born again in the spirit
through salvation have entered as citizens into God’s domain.
o Theirs Is – Knowing this helps us understand the first Beatitude.
Poor in spirit leads to humility, leads one back to God and into
His kingdom domain here on earth. These are blessed indeed. 15
Keys To Remember
o Poor In Spirit – Jesus said in Mt 19:23 that it’s
difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom
of heaven. That’s the antithesis of the
first Beatitude. The rich are arrogant and
trust in their own abilities and resources.
They don’t recognize the depth of their own spiritual depravity.
The poor are humble and recognize their need. They literally
depend upon God for their daily bread. Jesus uses the phrase
“poor in spirit” as a metaphor for those who have recognized
the depth of their sin and their desperate need for a Savior.
o Blessed – The greatest blessing one can receive is entrance into
the kingdom of heaven by becoming a born again spiritual
citizen.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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