Poor In Spirit Series

BEATITUDES SERIES:

POOR IN SPIRIT

MATTHEW 5:3

#Beatitudes

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO BE “POOR IN SPIRIT?”

EXAMPLE IN ISAIAH 6

READ Isaiah 6:1-5

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory." 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

The prophet Isaiah has a vision that he records where he encounters God… the King… the Lord Almighty. Isaiah sees the throne room of God and the awesomeness that happens there. God’s glory fills the throne room. He glimpses angels constantly flying around God calling out how holy and wonderful God is. There is shaking and power flowing from the angels singing and God sitting on the throne.

You see, Isaiah encounters God and what we see is someone poor in spirit which is the main thought we have for today in our time in the Word. The reaction of Isaiah is being poor in spirit. Isaiah understands his sinfulness especially when compared to the Almighty God who is perfect, holy, and completely righteous. Isaiah feels as though he will melt away because he is in the presence of a mighty and holy God. That is being poor in spirit. Isaiah feels his inadequacy when he compares himself to God. Isaiah understand his place in the whole order of creation and understands God’s place in the whole order of creation. That is part of what it means to be “poor in spirit.”

READ MATTHEW 5:3

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

BLESSED

The word “blessed” in this sentence is a particular word that means “happy” or “joy from a divine source.” I like to think of it as “a state of being where I am exactly where God wants me to be and therefore my heart is in the right place.” As we move through this series on the beatitudes, we are going to be discussing ways of living our lives and where we want our hearts to end up. When our hearts end up (“fill in the blank”) you and I will be the kind of people we want to be… but more importantly we will be the kind of people that God wants us to be. Each of these beatitudes is about our hearts and attitudes and motivations. I don’t know about you, but I often need to check my heart and my attitudes because I find myself with sinful attitudes.

A sinful heart means I treat others poorly.

A sinful attitude means I think about relationships or issues in a wrong way and say the wrong thing.

A sinful heart means I think about myself in a wrong way.

It is my hope in this series of sermons on the Beatitudes that you and I end up in a place where our hearts and attitudes are right/correct before God. The end result will be righteous hearts before the Lord and we will live blessed lives because we have joy from above. I am hoping that for me. I am praying for that for you.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO BE “POOR IN SPIRIT?”

EXAMPLE IN LUKE 5

READ Luke 5:1-8

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around Him and listening to the word of God, 2 He saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." 5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets." 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!