Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit Series

Blessed are the poor in Spirit

Matthew 5:1-5:12

Turn to Mathew 5

We will be starting a new series on the Sermon On The Mount this morning.

It is a familiar passage, but a lot of times it is just raced over and categorized as teaching to Jesus disciples.

That is true- Jesus is teaching his disciples, but He is also teaching His followers, the believers in Christ.

Most people think Sermon on the Mount is 12 verses of chapter 5. It is really chapter 5 thru 7 as Jesus details some of His teachings.

In fact Jesus pulls them aside and takes them up to the mountains to teach them.

Scholars believe that this was as long as a week or better.

Sermon on the Mount is not just one long…..sermon that Jesus preached to them. But it was a reflection of what he had taught them the whole time He was with them.

It would be like me standing up this morning waving this Bible in front of you and saying, this morning , I am going to tell you everything contained in this Bible. It would be impossible and a lot of you would be asleep or drifting off into thinking about other things

Let’s look at what Jesus taught his disciples and what we can learn and apply to our own lives.

Matthew 5:1-12

Prayer

Luke records it also in Luke 6:20-23.

Luke goes as far to add some woes that Matthew did not record.

(V24-26)

“ Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.”

Blessings and woes are given to the disciples and read by believers on how we should live our lives.

This morning we are centering on the first one-

“Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Write this observation- because it will apply to all of the other Be-attitudes.

(v1) When He (Jesus) saw the crowds, He went up to the mountainside and sat down. Remember what I said last week. If Jesus needed to get away and spend time with the Father- How much more do we need it? If Jesus thought it beneficial for the disciples to get alone with Him, to teach them, then it has to be a priority for our lives also.

Jesus sitting down with them is significant. Rabbi’s taught sitting down.

It was honor and respect for the teacher. Rabbi sat and the people stand.

What is wrong with this picture? Maybe you should stand for the rest of the sermon.

The Pope still practices that today, especially when he is in the Vatican. He sits and teaches, it is respect for the teacher.

Jesus sat down- His disciples came to Him and He began to teach them.

Second thought- His disciples came to Him. And He began to teach them. I must admit, I struggle a little bit with chasing people to hear the gospel. The disciples come to him to hear the Word of God. They came to where the Word of God was being taught.

No where does Jesus set up a greeting team to chase them down. I do believe they did spend time in each others home and fellowship together.

Now a days- most people don’t want the preacher or anyone else just popping in for a visit.

It is important that we know what we believe, but it is equally important to know how to behave.

The Sermon on the Mount gives us balance of doctrinal and practical teaching.

Things that we should apply to our lives:

Beginning with blessed are the poor in spirit is a strange way to begin. Because let’s face it- no one here would call it a blessing to be poor.

Being poor in spirit has nothing to do with money. It has everything to do with humility. Attitude of humility.

When we think we are okay because we are “good people” we depend on our own self-righteousness.

Self-righteousness will not make us happy.

Self-righteousness will not get you to heaven.

A lot of translations prefer to use the word happy instead of blessed. It is true a person blessed by God will be happy. We have to be careful not to reduce blessedness to merely being happy.

So what does it mean to be “poor in spirit”?

First , let’s eliminate a few things people have associated with being poor in spirit.

It is not:

Being shy and never sticking up for yourself.

It is not being flat broke and having no goals for your life.