Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit
There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches. Prov 13:7
The dictionary defines a paradox as:
par·a·dox. 1. A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true.
(against opinion)
The Word of God is not lacking for
these marvellous conundrums (puzzles).
Some of the more familiar ones are:
Matthew 19:30 "But many who are first
will be last, and the last first.
Matthew 23:12 "And whoever exalts himself
will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Mark 4:25 "For whoever has, to him
more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken
away from him."
Luke 17:33 "Whoever seeks to save his
life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in
spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
"Blessed are the poor in spirit …...” - This
is the subject of today’s sermon.
Just how can spiritual poverty be a
blessing?
Surely the translators have misquoted
the Scriptures!
No, not this time.
This is what I mean by a paradox.
It seems contradictory, but it is, in
fact, true.
Turn to Mark 2:15 -17
Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.
And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"
When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
You see, the Pharisees were the
strictest and most pridefull of the Jewish sects.
They were, in their own eyes, the
righteous elite - God’s very own - His representatives on earth.
They would thank God that they were
neither a Gentile or a woman.
They didn’t walk on the ground like
other men - their feet fell on a place somewhere between
heaven and earth.
They were sanctified by an ancient
tradition and the performance of numerous ceremonies and rituals rather than by
the Holy Spirit.
The very name “Pharisee” means
separation.
They were, themselves, a paradox.
They were advocates of human
righteousness (as long as you were a Jew) and looked to legal observance as the
mechanism by which righteousness could be achieved.
It was their fanatical adherence to
letter of the Mosaic Law without regard for its intent or spirit that caused
Jesus to call them “white-washed tombs”.
The very thing that they thought
purified them in fact contaminated them.
They were so focused on the externals
of their religion that they were blind to the unrighteousness of their own
motives and attitudes.
They were so filled with spiritual
health that they considered themselves far beyond the need of any spiritual
physician.
They had, long ago, accepted human
tradition in the place of Divine truth.
In Mark
7:9 & Mark 7:13 Jesus said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may
keep your tradition.
"making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do."
Or as the Lord said in Isaiah 29:13, “… Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me
with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear
toward Me is taught by the commandment of men…”.
I sometimes wonder how much of Divine
truth has been replaced by the traditions of modern Christianity - Churchianity.
How many Christians are like the
Pharesees, so spiritually wealthy that they cannot receive the blessings that
God passionately desires to give them?
If only the Pharisees had been able
to see beyond their own agendas and step out of their pride.
Then they would have known the joy
that accompanies surrender to the One True God.
The apostle Paul discovered this and
tells us in Phil 3:2-11, “Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, who worship God
in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,
though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may
have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the
stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning
the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the
righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me,
these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss
for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain
Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the
law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from
God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I
may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Paul had discovered that accumulation of manna does not make whole; but needfulness brings
great blessing.
Wealth and power may promise
fulfillment but can only deliver a temporary solution.
For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things
which are not seen are eternal. 2 Cor 4:17-18
Paul had traded all that man held in
high esteem for what God offered him - as someone has said, “He gave up that which
he could not keep, to receive that which he could not lose”.
For this reason Paul could say, in Phil 4:11-13, “… I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know
how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have
learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I
can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Truly Blessed is the one who
recognizes his own spiritual destitution and cries out to the only one who can
satisfy that need.…
The French mathematician Pascal said
that every human being has a God Shapped hole in his heart that he tries to
fill with earthly substance – we all seek meaning, purpose, security etc.
Jesus declared, in Matthew 5:6, “…Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.”
And what is righteousness? God defined it in Genesis 15:6 when Abraham believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
This is simply being in agreement
with God.
And in order to agree with God you
first have to know what God says. Rom 12:2
With regard to spiritual hunger, it
is the condition of all the sons of Adam but only the wise will acknowledge it in themselves.
This is metanoeo, the repentance of
Baptism which is to acknowledge your condition without Christ and to cry out
for salvation which is transformation.
As one author has put it, “Spiritual poverty consists essentially in that state which leads
us to acknowledge that we know nothing from ourselves, accompanied with a
desire to be taught by the Lord.
It is really an affection for spiritual truth; a desire not only to know the truth, but to be led by it, attended by an utter distrust of our own power or our own knowledge, and a profound sense of our own helplessness in and of ourselves.
It implies more than destitution of knowledge and power. A man may be utterly ignorant in natural and spiritual things, and yet not feel the want of them.
And he may feel the want, but if, at the same time, he thinks or knows that he has the power of supplying the want, he does not feel poor.
For when the want becomes urgent enough, he can use the means to supply it.
But when the want oppresses him, and he is utterly powerless to satisfy it, then he is poor indeed.
Then he becomes a beggar, which the original word translated poor really means. He must go to the only source from which his wants can be supplied.
In short, “Spiritual poverty or destitution consists in a keen sense of our
spiritual needs, and the utter hopelessness of our own ability to supply them.”
In Christ Jesus is God’s blessing
fulfilled - as we read in Col 1:13-20, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into
the kingdom of the Son of His love, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins He is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
It is in Christ Jesus that the soul
finds its purpose.
We find significance in Him.
Only in Christ Jesus can the believer
be a partaker of the Divine Nature.
It is in Him that the Divine Plan is
consumated.
While it is in the nature of man to
look to wealth and power to satisfy his hunger for significance, Col 1:27 declares that, It is Christ in you that is the hope of glory - value.
Amen