Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit Series

BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT

INTRO NEW SERIES

Everyone wants the good life. What does it mean for you? Lifestyle? Stuff? Financial security? Family?

ILL: Video Clip ’In the Game’ from the Pursuit of Happiness.

The world says, ’take what you want, pursue happiness and fulfillment at all costs.’ But Jesus inverts the world’s order and ethics.

1John 2.15 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. Whoever lose their life will find it, the last will be first, the leader must serve the servant.

So what is the good life and how can we find it?...

And what does it mean to be blessed, anyway?

Some tss ’happy’, but blessed is not an emotional state. Fortunate or ’to be congratulated’ closer. Objective state of being rather than the way we feel.

Times I’ve been in a tough place and others have called me blessed.

The Beatitudes - the good life, the blessed life, found in the upside-down Kingdom of God, now and in eternity.

INTRO MARK 5.3

Matt 5.3 - Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their’s is the Kingdom of Heaven (TNIV). You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule (The Message).

Empowerment - a word for our times. Despise dependence - stand on own two feet.

People accuse Christianity of being a crutch. How do you respond?

1. THE POOR IN SPIRIT

A. THE POOR IN SPIRIT ARE HUMBLE AND DEPENDENT

Jesus said, ’Blessed are the poor in spirit’. Who are they? Some clues from Scripture:

Isa 57.15 ’For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."’

Lowly and contrite = humble, and sorrowful and repentant for their sins.

Mark 10.15 "anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

Little children are dependent and completely trusting.

Luke 5.31-32 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

When we’re sick we need help - we depend on the doctor for a cure.

Poverty, spiritual or physical, is a state of dependence - need help to manage.

The poor in spirit are those who know they are needy and seek help.

ILL: A friend once took me out to coffee and punctured a tire on the way. I knew they were tight financially so offered some money to fix it. He was reluctant to take it but eventually accepted. He admitted it was his pride and independence.

Like many of you we sponsor a child. How would you feel as a parent if you relied on a complete stranger’s help to feed, clothe and educate your child? Humbled?

Overseas I encountered many beggars - vulnerable, exploited. How do you think it would feel to go to a complete stranger to ask for money for food?

B. THE POOR IN SPIRIT ARE WILLING TO RECEIVE

It’s incredibly humbling, even humiliating, to be that poor, but they are blessed. Why?

Because humble people are so desperate they’re willing to receive help! They have nothing else to lean on so the lean on Jesus.

It’s simple - the rich (hear spiritually arrogant) think they can do it themselves and refuse God’s help, the poor in spirit know they can’t and receive it!

1Pet 5.5 ’God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’

When people say Christianity is a crutch, do you know what to say to them?

"Yes it is! And if you think you can do life without him then more power to you, but I need Jesus, I’m going to receive every blessing he has for me!"

2. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

What does it mean that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit?

A. SALVATION

On one level it means receiving eternal life - salvation.

Becoming a follower of Jesus is a very humbling process.

- admitting we are guilty because of sin

- admitting we can’t save ourselves and need God to do it for us

- death to self through the cross

- turning from autonomy and self-rule to submission and dependence in God’s rule

B. LIFE AND FREEDOM

Not just salvation - the Kingdom of Heaven = the rule of God = the presence of God

John 17.3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Biblical knowledge = experiential, personal, intimate